Finally, after two months navigating the administrative maze, my manager in Shepparton was able to give me my own access pass. Hooray! No more time-consuming morning inductions.

On Friday, I used my new pass for the first time. I arrived at 7:50 AM, about half an hour earlier than usual. I waved the card in front of the back entrance.

Beep beep beep.

Hmm. Doesn’t want to open. Guess I’ll go through the front.

I walked about 100 m to the other side of the building, up the ramp and faced the glass doors. None of the lights in the building were on. I had never been the first to arrive before.

I held my card near the reader. Beep. That was more like it. I heard the familiar click of the door unlocking and pushed my way into the dark building.

Oooooweeeeeeee! Oooooweeeeeee! Oooooweeeeeee!

“What the- !” The piercing alarm seemed to be right next to my ear. I looked up and saw the siren.

Some people arriving at the door of an adjacent building looked at me as I stuck my head back out the front door.

“I’ve set off an alarm!” I said helplessly. “I don’t know how to turn it off!”

“I’ll see if I can find someone to shut it off,” a man said.

Alone, I stood in the darkness just inside the entrance. I must stood there for two or three minutes. Finally, Chris and Pat showed up for the start of their work day.

“What have you done, Joan?” they said, shaking their heads and smiling.

“I broke something,” I said in a small voice.

“Tsk, tsk.” Chris swiped his employee access card and the alarms stopped. Pat reached behind a tall filing cabinet and switched on the lights.

I declared, “That’s the last time I come early to work.”