Halloween month is upon us, and we want to hear your scariest (true) stories from your everyday dealings within the vast world of architecture:
Clients from hell
Contractors who can't
Demonic workplaces
Architecture school gone mad
Kafkaesque permitting departments
We plan on publishing a collection of stories in the Archinect editorial section later this month. (Please leave out specific names if that stirs up legal troubles.)
While as student intern at a small firm the PM started to give me list of things to do. I began to write down the tasks and what was to be done. The PM shoved the paper out of my reach and said : "This isn't that complicated. Use your brain to remember it" He then poked me in the forehead.
Without even thinking I grabbed the PM's finger and broke it with a loud crack. I then said "don't ever touch me like that again"
The PM screamed, cradled his broken finger, and said I was fired.
The firm owner said the PM deserved it and I wasn't in trouble. I still found a new firm to work with in a couple of weeks.
bowling_ball
Oct 4, 23 8:04 pm
This is the best story
Chad Miller
Oct 6, 23 11:42 am
After it happened I was scared. I spoke to my parents about it. My dad could tell I was terrified. He calmed me down by saying if the PM caused me trouble he'd sue them into oblivion. For a bit of context my dad isn't litigious and has never sued anyone. He is friends with some very talented and powerful lawyers though (fishing buddies).
Nam Henderson
Oct 29, 23 10:59 pm
Wow talk about ninja reflexes!
Chad Miller
Oct 30, 23 10:43 am
Not really. The jerk was continuously poking my forheld while he insulted me. Clearly he'd never actually bullied someone that would stand up to him.
archanonymous
Oct 5, 23 7:49 am
Wait, wasn't there a horror stories thread (not Halloween themed) sometime in the last year?
Nam Henderson
Oct 29, 23 11:02 pm
Seems there has been at least one (active) thread with this exact titling over years... Plus a few others (from 05 and 1 + 2 from 2015)
blackpanther00000
Oct 5, 23 1:47 pm
Marvel in NYC laid off 11 people at once via a single Zoom call and not but one or two hours later, while they still all had access to their email accounts, they saw an email blast go out to the entire office: "Catered lunches on Wednesday are back!"
Donna Sink
Oct 6, 23 11:25 am
Yikes.
Donna Sink
Oct 6, 23 11:34 am
This is the scariest house I've seen in a looooong time. Look at your own risk!
Omg they named the project "Bigger Cube" I'm dying this has to be a shitpost.
Alexander Walter
Oct 6, 23 12:03 pm
Now THAT's what I call an open floor plan.
Non Sequitur
Oct 6, 23 12:13 pm
I've rented similar houses. They are normally built for corporate retreats (cough... bachelor parties... cough). Can't imagine this one was for a family.
b3tadine[sutures]
Oct 6, 23 8:17 pm
.
____
Oct 7, 23 12:25 am
Fucking A.
midlander
Oct 8, 23 7:08 am
i love the struggle when corporate architects try to do residential. total aesthetic failure and not even cheap.
midlander
Oct 8, 23 7:14 am
...the attention to detail to add a doorstop, but not select a left-hinged fridge door...
b3tadine[sutures]
Oct 8, 23 10:53 am
Mid, right? I can't figure out what is the recessed connection in the sidewall...
____
Oct 8, 23 2:04 pm
Water line to the refrigerator.
b3tadine[sutures]
Oct 8, 23 4:59 pm
Yeah I thought that too, for the ice maker? Who buys a refrigerator without a water dispenser on the damn thing?
____
Oct 8, 23 8:39 pm
Some of them have water/ice containers on the inside.
natematt
Oct 9, 23 4:43 pm
I would like to check out the smaller cube model thank you :3
kjpn
Oct 14, 23 9:25 am
"
Like a garage? Builder will complete for an additional fee."
This didn’t happen to me, but to a coworker in a different city. The office is in a gorgeous old building, but apparently a homeless person had been living in one of the vacant office spaces for a while. He snuck into the firms office and stole my coworker’s purse. She saw him and chased him down the hallway, which is way ballsier than I would have been in that situation!
I have definitely gotten the creeps working alone late at night in several offices, however since I stopped believing in ghosts about 20 years ago, it hasn’t been so scary. The only thing that scares me now is stories like what happened to my coworker, because people can be awful.
Broadstreetexpresstrain
Oct 7, 23 8:48 pm
Donna,
Did that incident happen in Philly? Because it sounds like a Philly type incident. This brings up an interesting issue about staying late in the office and security. I have been in the office until as late as 2:00 AM before in Syrace and as late as Midnight in Princeton. When I worked in Baltimore I heard of others working there until 11:00 at night. I never did because I didn’t feel safe since the parking garage was 3 blocks away and downtown Baltimore was dead at night. I’m a grown man and was concerned for all, especially the women that stayed late at night there near the inner harbor. What are your thoughts on this issue?
midlander
Oct 8, 23 7:00 am
i got mugged at 10pm right in front of my office in the chicago loop. it wasn't even that empty out, just a chilly night with no one right there. someone exiting another building across the street saw it and called the police, thankfully scaring off the attacker after i gave him my single $20 bill.
Donna Sink
Oct 8, 23 7:21 pm
Broadstreet it was actually Detroit!
natematt
Oct 9, 23 4:45 pm
I was once in the office on a weekend, and the power had gone out so all the electronic locks were unlocked.
Had a random person come into the office (presumably from another floor, we were on the top floor) and just walk by me (without noticing) and went and looked out the window.
I, a 6’3” 250lb man walked quietly up behind them and ask what they were doing there.
Ultimately they said they just wanted to see the view, I asserted that their floor probably also had windows and that they should go look though those, which I will presume they did after promptly leaving.
I've had more actually unpleasant experiences in apartments than in offices.
Broadstreetexpresstrain
Oct 7, 23 8:50 pm
My horror story was being laid off and out of work for a year during the Great Recession in 2009.
Halloween month is upon us, and we want to hear your scariest (true) stories from your everyday dealings within the vast world of architecture:
We plan on publishing a collection of stories in the Archinect editorial section later this month. (Please leave out specific names if that stirs up legal troubles.)
If you prefer to submit your story anonymously, you can use this dedicated submission form.
While as student intern at a small firm the PM started to give me list of things to do. I began to write down the tasks and what was to be done. The PM shoved the paper out of my reach and said : "This isn't that complicated. Use your brain to remember it" He then poked me in the forehead.
Without even thinking I grabbed the PM's finger and broke it with a loud crack. I then said "don't ever touch me like that again"
The PM screamed, cradled his broken finger, and said I was fired.
The firm owner said the PM deserved it and I wasn't in trouble. I still found a new firm to work with in a couple of weeks.
This is the best story
After it happened I was scared. I spoke to my parents about it. My dad could tell I was terrified. He calmed me down by saying if the PM caused me trouble he'd sue them into oblivion. For a bit of context my dad isn't litigious and has never sued anyone. He is friends with some very talented and powerful lawyers though (fishing buddies).
Wow talk about ninja reflexes!
Not really. The jerk was continuously poking my forheld while he insulted me. Clearly he'd never actually bullied someone that would stand up to him.
Wait, wasn't there a horror stories thread (not Halloween themed) sometime in the last year?
Seems there has been at least one (active) thread with this exact titling over years... Plus a few others (from 05 and 1 + 2 from 2015)
Marvel in NYC laid off 11 people at once via a single Zoom call and not but one or two hours later, while they still all had access to their email accounts, they saw an email blast go out to the entire office: "Catered lunches on Wednesday are back!"
Yikes.
This is the scariest house I've seen in a looooong time. Look at your own risk!
https://www.zillow.com/homedet...
I'm now blind. Thanks
Omg they named the project "Bigger Cube" I'm dying this has to be a shitpost.
Now THAT's what I call an open floor plan.
I've rented similar houses. They are normally built for corporate retreats (cough... bachelor parties... cough). Can't imagine this one was for a family.
.
Fucking A.
i love the struggle when corporate architects try to do residential. total aesthetic failure and not even cheap.
...the attention to detail to add a doorstop, but not select a left-hinged fridge door...
Mid, right? I can't figure out what is the recessed connection in the sidewall...
Water line to the refrigerator.
Yeah I thought that too, for the ice maker? Who buys a refrigerator without a water dispenser on the damn thing?
Some of them have water/ice containers on the inside.
I would like to check out the smaller cube model thank you :3
" Like a garage? Builder will complete for an additional fee."
https://archinect.com/forum/th...
https://archinect.com/forum/th...
This didn’t happen to me, but to a coworker in a different city. The office is in a gorgeous old building, but apparently a homeless person had been living in one of the vacant office spaces for a while. He snuck into the firms office and stole my coworker’s purse. She saw him and chased him down the hallway, which is way ballsier than I would have been in that situation!
I have definitely gotten the creeps working alone late at night in several offices, however since I stopped believing in ghosts about 20 years ago, it hasn’t been so scary. The only thing that scares me now is stories like what happened to my coworker, because people can be awful.
Donna,
Did that incident happen in Philly? Because it sounds like a Philly type incident. This brings up an interesting issue about staying late in the office and security. I have been in the office until as late as 2:00 AM before in Syrace and as late as Midnight in Princeton. When I worked in Baltimore I heard of others working there until 11:00 at night. I never did because I didn’t feel safe since the parking garage was 3 blocks away and downtown Baltimore was dead at night. I’m a grown man and was concerned for all, especially the women that stayed late at night there near the inner harbor. What are your thoughts on this issue?
i got mugged at 10pm right in front of my office in the chicago loop. it wasn't even that empty out, just a chilly night with no one right there. someone exiting another building across the street saw it and called the police, thankfully scaring off the attacker after i gave him my single $20 bill.
Broadstreet it was actually Detroit!
I was once in the office on a weekend, and the power had gone out so all the electronic locks were unlocked.
Had a random person come into the office (presumably from another floor, we were on the top floor) and just walk by me (without noticing) and went and looked out the window.
I, a 6’3” 250lb man walked quietly up behind them and ask what they were doing there. Ultimately they said they just wanted to see the view, I asserted that their floor probably also had windows and that they should go look though those, which I will presume they did after promptly leaving.
I've had more actually unpleasant experiences in apartments than in offices.
My horror story was being laid off and out of work for a year during the Great Recession in 2009.