"There's a bomb in your building!"

[ditchdj]

That's what I'd hear when I picked up the phone when I worked at Taco Bell when I was 19. Usually happened between 7:30-8:30 every other night. First time I told the manager and we called the cops and they came and searched the building and bathrooms, looking for any sign of a bomb. They didnt and it was business as usual. After reporting the jerkoff a couple more times and seeing that obviously nothing was being done I'd just say, "Wow cool" and then hang up. After about three weeks the calls stopped. Today that particular Taco Bell is gone, an abandoned building just sitting there waiting to be bought. It would actually be kinda nice if someone blew it up and leveled it. There are so many abandoned, empty business buildings in my hometown it's really depressing.

[ThePhoneGoddess]

When I was a kid my Mom was a substitute office person for the school district. One morning she got called in to work at the front office for the local junior high, and some kid called in a bomb threat. Before she could help herself, she started laughing. Well the kid, who had been acting all 'dangerous' on the phone, got flustered and actually STARTED CRYING because my Mom insulted him by just laughing at him. He got mad and whined at her and then hung up.

She laughed all the way home.

Note: This was early 80's, when bomb threats in junior high were more of a roll-your-eyes kinda thing instead of a panic-and-shut-the-school-down kinda thing.

[reformedwaitress]

I was a junior in high school the year Columbine happened and after it, we started getting bomb threats. Seriously, we would get one every other day or so at like 11:00 for the rest of the school year. And they HAD to evacuate the school to at least a thousand yards away. So we'd all go to a church nearby and have classes there. It didn't even get us out of classes! It was just annoying and stupid and we all wanted to kick whoever was doing it. I don't think we ever found out.

[BookstoreEscapee]

We had a bomb threat when I was in second grade (1982, yikes!). I remember we all went out onto the back playground behind the school and then our teachers came out with big armloads of coats and we had to find ours in the pile. Of course they had to do it in winter! I don't know if they ever found out who did it but they never did find a bomb. I think we were out for an hour or so before we were allowed back in. At least we got out of class for a while

[JustaCashier]

Around ten years ago, a bomb threat was received at the Building where I last worked in the parking business.

This Building was similar to the Murrah Bldg in OKC in that it had Federal Courts and other Federal Agencies, plus a Federally subsidized Childcare within it. Ever since the OKC bombing, we had to be extra alert for any suspicious activity, rental/unmarked delivery trucks etc.

Bldg Security claimed to having received a bomb threat phoned in to the Security Desk. The Head Security Gaurd was on vacation, and his very able fill-in had taken the day off as well, leaving a fairly new Gaurd alone for the day. These Gaurds were contracted from a private Security Firm.

Around lunch time (including mine! ) the call was apparently received. The call was made to evacuate the Bldg, and we ended up with Federal Marshalls, (both from our Bldg, and the Federal Courthouse kitty corner to us, City Police, and the Security Companie's Supervisor(s) showing up at the Garage Entrance.

One of the City Cops started asking me about the layout of the Garage, and said he'd be doing a walk-through. I offered to walk through with him (actually expecting him to say no) stating that I could point out all of the nooks and crannies, plus, there was ongoing major remodeling going on in the Bldg, and the Contractors were storing alot of fixtures and stuff, both new and old, in corners and along walls thoughout the Garage. I figured I could let the cop know if anything truly looked out of the ordinary, or if it was just stashed stuff.

Now, I really suspected it was a hoax, as they so often are, but back then, and more so now, one never knows. That being said, I still had this creepy feeling running up the back of my neck "what if.....".

He said yes, so we were off. This was a mid-rise Bldg, with three levels of underground parking for around 160-170 cars. Relatively small. We started by walking as the traffic flows through. Down and along one half of each parking level to the third floor, crossing over to the other end and back up the ramps.

On the bottom floor, just before we headed back up, we noticed a Subaru Station Wagon with something covering a good portion of the back seat, with wires and/or hoses or something running over the back of the seat into the wayback. All were covered by blankets or tarps. The Cop asked me if I recognized the car, and I said no. It didn't have a Monthly Parking sticker, and I didn't recognize it as Monthly's alternate, or any other regular Customer. He radioed the plate in on his portable, and we finshed our walk-through checking the other ends of levels 2 then 1 on our way up.

They came up with an owner's name, then were somehow able to locate him (this was before carry it along with ya Cells were so common, so I'm not quite sure how they did it, other than perhaps calling his name out to the group of evacuated people that were still gathered. Turns out the item in question was some sort of water filtering device, or something.

I never got an official word on any results of finding the origin of the supposed threat, other than it was suspected that the substitute Gaurd was suspected of making a false claim of the call.

Mike

[Bliss]

We got a bomb threat to the building sometime about 2 months after 9/11 (I live and work in Venezuela) anyhow they took it seriously, our offices are located in a medium large and one of the most modern buildings (by then) in the city. We joked maybe Bin laden would send a "rutaca" plane (airplanes used by a local air agency called rutaca, since they cover very short local touristic flgihts, they use Dash-7 and smaller aircraft) since it might be enough to tople the tower (18 stories high).... Anyhow the only fun part about it was while we were evacuating the office. One of our coworkers "M" was talking on the phone with a client and she was totally oblivious to her surroundings

the convo went something like (spoken to client in between quotes):

Us: M. We have to leave!
M: I'm busy "So sir now please right click on my pc.. blah blah"
Us: M! There's a bomb threat, we have to evacuate. Now!!
M: I'm with a client!! "Ok, now go to settings, blah blah"
I get in front of M's face so close she had to stare at me and I tell her while looking at
her eyes:
Me: M, there is a bomb in the building, we have to leave NOW.
At that point the words finally seeped in, she gave a little cry, excused herself with
the customer, and we finally left.

It was an empty threat. every nook was sought and nothing found. But we still laugh
about it

[ahanix1989]

We occasionally get bomb threats. Most are deemed non-credible. Only one so far this year was credible enough to necessitate moving the Tech Ed classes to the media center. What the kid forgot was, we have security cameras. When he realized they were checking the recordings, he 'fessed up, got expelled, and is in court.

One kid here was stupid enough to wear a trenchcoat to school on the anniversary of Columbine. I'm guessing the police didn't like the joke, what with the handcuffs and squad cars and all....

[ditchdj]

One kid here was stupid enough to wear a trenchcoat to school on the anniversary of Columbine. I'm guessing the police didn't like the joke, what with the handcuffs and squad cars and all....

That's stupid. So it's wrong to pull over someone just because they're not white, but it's perfectly fine for them to call out the National Guard just for wearing a trenchcoat???

[powerboy]

Back when I was in 11th grade, we had bomb treats every other day. So everyday, we always had to go out to the parking lot.

[reformedwaitress]

Back when I was in 11th grade, we had bomb treats every other day. So everyday, we always had to go out to the parking lot.

I don't know what state you're in, but in Georgia (where I am) if any threat of a bomb came into a building that was required to hold minors (read: a school) the building had to evacuate all occupants to a safe point FARTHER THAN 1000 YARDS from the building. Hence, parking lot = NOT good enough! (c: I mean really, if there IS a bomb and it explodes, you're still going to get hurt in the parking lot if the building is 'sploding (c:

[Lace Neil Singer]

When I was at college, some crank called up the local police to say a bomb had been planted at the complex. So the college, 2 schools and the adult ed centre there were evacuated. I and my fellow students went down the local pub. Just so that we were safe from any blast, you understand.

[DGoddessChardonnay]

When I was a kid my Mom was a substitute office person for the school district. One morning she got called in to work at the front office for the local junior high, and some kid called in a bomb threat. Before she could help herself, she started laughing. Well the kid, who had been acting all 'dangerous' on the phone, got flustered and actually STARTED CRYING because my Mom insulted him by just laughing at him. He got mad and whined at her and then hung up.

She laughed all the way home.

Note: This was early 80's, when bomb threats in junior high were more of a roll-your-eyes kinda thing instead of a panic-and-shut-the-school-down kinda thing.

I suspect something similar occured at my high school not long after I started (fall 1983.) We were suddenly sent home early without any explanation - just an announcement over the PA at the beginning of 6th period class stating that when the next bell rung, to simply go straight to the bus parking lot (in the back of the campus) and board the buses. We couldn't stop at our lockers to retrieve anything - we had to exit whatever building we were in and go straight to the buses.

By the time the next bell rung and most everyone had gotten to the buses, rumours were swirling that it was a bomb threat.

By lunchtime the next day, it was more or less confirmed that someone had pulled a prank and called into the school making that threat.

Of course, even back then, our school system didn't take such threats lightly. I shudder to think what the penalty for making false bomb threats would be today.

[ArenaBoy]

My middle school had 4 bomb threats when I was there and they conveniently happened during lunch. In high school, we had a bomb threat and school was supposed to be cancelled, the idiot cop thought the students coming in took it as school was un-cancelled and let us in even the teachers. To this day, I always wonder what happend to that cop.

[Rahmota]

Back when I was in college we had a bomb threat as well. Nothing ever turned up, though we did do our speaking class outside that evening. Sort of ancient greece style. Might as well make omlets if ya got busted eggs.

Oddly enough the entire time I worked security I never had to deal with a bomb threat. Some of the other guys did when they had to work a strike that got ugly.

[Misanthropical]

When my oldest started a new elementary school in our old neighborhood, he would come home with these tiny bits of paper, something a parent could miss if they didn't look close enough in the folder saying there was a bomb threat and the school was evacuated, but nothing found. He came home with about 6 of them!

I called the school and asked them if maybe I had made a mistake to allow my son to attend, because I didn't want the last time I saw my son to be right before I sent him to school. I felt guilty every time he got on the bus, wondering if I should keep him home, what if that is the last time I saw him?

Anyway, it turned out it was a teacher's aide who was calling in the threats, because "everyone was so mean to her" I wanted to left alone in a room with her to show her how mean someone really could be to her!

She was charged with terrorist threats and a bunch of other stuff, while her parents where on the news saying how it wasn't really her fault.