"911, you're on your own!"

I had to go to my locker at work the other day, brother was kind enough to drive me. And I don't know who all either works at 911 or at least knows what the dispatch floor is like, but when I walked past the hall it was quiet. The evil q word. I stood there, listening, thinking they're all dead. They killed each other. I've worked on this watch (squad) before, I knew what they were like. Cautiously I walked up the hall that would lead me in, still can't see the main floor yet. Still quiet, not a frigging sound. In my head I'm thinking and joking in my typical fashion ... hmm call 911? I go in and there is no one. Well my mouth drops, I'm looking around, saying 'oh .... shit.' a few times under my breath. Little confused as to why 911 is empty, I start remembering the horror stories of our veteran dispatchers. There was this one at their old center when they had to work with blue vapor like in the air and a bunch of them were on long term disability afterwards. Remembering this I immediately start looking around for any haze, blue or otherwise. No haze, no smoke, no dispatchers. I hear a bit of radio talk, so I race over to the Fire pod, empty though. Great, I just ran, (which feels like someone is stabbing me due to the medical leave) and there is no one there. I check all the manager’s office but they're gone. Typical. They'd be the first ones out. More than a little confused I hear a woman gasp my name. I 'twitch' and turn around to see one of our dispatchers, hand over heart, looking at me. She had just turned the same hallway I had come up and ran almost literately into me. She wasn't expecting anyone in here, I was expecting the reverse. Turns out they were giving the joint a good cleaning and dayshift had been at the backup center. The night shift would be logging on soon and would come to the regular centre.

Whew, at least I didn't have to worry about blue haze or any other kind of Hazmat. Also didn't have to be the one and only single Dispatcher for 911/Police/Fire/Alarm/Non-Emergency Police & Fire for the entire county. I could only imagine the pre-recorded message for this kind of scenerio. "911, you're on your own! Fend for yourself! No we will not raise your children, I don't care who you know and Yes I like my job ... asshole!"