fears & working in skyscrapers

[Deleted]

Assuming you lived in Chicago or NYC, would you turn down a job simply b/c it's located in one of the tallest US buildings?

I think I probably would, as sad as that sounds. But I guess it would depend on how badly I needed the job.

[rosiedozie]

Ummm, no. What are you afraid of?

[heyrebekah]

No.

[CallingAllAngels]

I worked a temp job in the 2nd tallest building in LA a few months. I am not crazy about heights, but it wasn't a big deal.

[rubytue]

I'm on the 11th floor now. Once you are above 8 (firetruck ladder height), I don't see a difference between 9 and 109. Except maybe if the elevators are out of service.

[Deleted]

I wouldn't but I know it's a very real fear so I can sympathize. But imagine you accepted a job in a low rise building and a month later they moved? Hopefully you can work through the issue, maybe with the help of a therapist? My desk has a window nearby but I don't face that way so maybe there are ways you can minimize the anxiety.

[Deleted]

Terrorism target. I just can't get those images out of my head. But oddly I don't have a fear of flying.

[ejpint]

I'm uncomfortable with heights, but for some reason, being inside of a skyscraper doesn't freak me out. I'm more uncomfortable with moderate heights, or open air heights, but being on the 100th floor behind super thick glass? No big deal. I think it's so high up that my brain processes it differently, like being on a plane.

[gt7301b]

Aug 21, 2012 9:20:05 GMT -5 @blushnbashful said:

Terrorism target. I just can't get those images out of my head. But oddly I don't have a fear of flying.

There are tons of other buildings/ locations that are terrorism targets. If I avoided all the possible places that I thought were potential targets I would never leave my home. I don't work in a tall building, but my building is still a target for other reasons.

[Deleted]

no way

[anna7602]

I think if it causes you real anxiety, it's a legitimate reason to pass on the job. I know a few people IRL who are still very traumatized by 9/11. One friend still absolutely refuses to ride the NYC subway and has spent the last 10.5 years getting around all the buroughs on buses, even when it takes twice as long as the subway would.

Like NQB said, maybe seeing a therapist would help. Anxiety is real. I would never judge this.

[mrssavy42112]

Aug 21, 2012 9:24:53 GMT -5 swizzlestx said:

Aug 21, 2012 9:20:05 GMT -5 @blushnbashful said:

Terrorism target. I just can't get those images out of my head. But oddly I don't have a fear of flying.

No, but I also think people in bigger cities are more desensitized to things like that.

Exactly.

[mishap]

I interviewed for a job on the 80th floor of a building, and the elevator ride up made my stomach flip. I don't think you can compare it to working on the 11th floor.

[hannamaren]

You need to speak to someone.
Terrorists target so many things. And then there are the crazy gunmen. Thus could get worse.

[fbf2006]

I personally wouldn't want to work on a very high floor. I'm not sure exactly what floor that would be. I currently work on 14, live on 9 and i'm moving to an apartment on the 17th floor. I'm kinda uncomfortable in my sister's apartment on the 23rd floor, so maybe somewhere between 17 and 23 is my limit.

[aspentosh]

No, but I realize terrorist acts can happen anywhere, so I won't stop living my life.

[carfar]

Considering my location, I'd be more afraid of an earthquake bringing down a skyscraper than a terrorist act.

[mbcdefg]

I wouldn't apply for jobs if I knew they were in NYC skyscrapers. IDK what I'd do if I had a job in a smaller building and they moved.

I used to work around the corner from the Empire State Building and it always made me nervous. I was glad when that job's contract ran out and I could find something else in NJ.

I never liked tall buildings to begin with, and 9/11 certainly didn't help.

[drloretta]

No. I don't see why I would. What would be the reasoning?

ETA: I just saw the reasoning. Terrorism wouldn't be my concern. To be overly clinical and insensitive about it, there was actually a pretty decent survival rate when the Twin Towers went down. And I'm not going to avoid every potential terror target (airplane, large sporting event, etc).

But hey, if it's an issue for you, don't even apply.

[bliss]

I'm afraid of heights. I worked in a building here that's the tallest (24 floors. Lame) and it was on rollers so when it was super windy you could feel the damn building move. It wasn't fun. I worked on the 13th floor so the views were beautiful but I couldn't look down.

Our downtown library has glass elevators and I refuse to take them. I don't like seeing the people below me get smaller. Creeps me out.

[rubytue]

Aug 21, 2012 9:23:34 GMT -5 v said:

Aug 21, 2012 9:18:01 GMT -5 rubytue said:

I'm on the 11th floor now. Once you are above 8 (firetruck ladder height), I don't see a difference between 9 and 109. Except maybe if the elevators are out of service.

I'm scared of heights, so I definitely do see a difference. The highest floor I've worked on is the 30th floor (of a building that was only around 50 floors), and I couldn't look straight down at the ground from my window without getting freaked out. I definitely can't look straight down from somewhere like the Rainbow Room that is much higher, even though it is enclosed.

Also, the building sways more when you're higher up, and that can make me dizzy. It is bad enough to have to deal with the creaking and swaying when it is windy/stormy from a lower floor as is.

The only time I got creeped out working here though is when there was an earthquake last year. I thought it could be a bomb, because I think that this building and the one across the street could be bombing targets. The earthquake felt really different from storm swaying. But that fear passed after about 2 seconds. And I was a tiny bit nervous on the most recent September 11 for the same reason.

I do see some difference. But the way the op mentioned the tallest building in the city, rather than just all tall buildings struck me as not a fear of heights thing, but safety. And for safety, I still don't think it's a huge difference.

FWIW, I have some fear of heights, but only if there is nothing between me and the edge. Like a cliff? Terrified. Top of the empire state building? Fine. So I do have at least some recognition of it.

But for those who don't like tall buildings, come to DC. 106 (or thereabouts) feet max. Unless you are in the burbs.

[Daria Morgandorffer]

Yes, I have vertigo and would panic/pass out in a building above the 10th floor. Just thinking about being in the top of a skyscraper makes me dizzy. I'm really lucky that my office is on the second floor, because it's located in a Chicago high-rise.

[315bride]

I don't fear skyscrapers. My H works in a building/area that is a high target for terrorism. I'm guessing that a school like mine would also be a pretty high target. I can't imagine anything more traumatizing than, say, bombing a school full of children. I guess a hospital would also be pretty horrifying for an act of terror. Yes, I've thought about these things.

A lot of friends ask me about being nervous about it. TBH, I have nightmares frequently about it. I have envisioned myself as a widow, for example. I try really hard not to let it get to me, though. I used to work in area that was evacuated often on and after 9/11 many times.

This year, I have a work event on 9/11. I was sort of shocked that NYC people don't take into consideration that people might use that day as a day to memorialize lost loved ones. I know many people connected and it is a somber day.

[Deleted]

no.

like pp mentioned, I don't plan on avoiding terrorist targets out of fear (tall buildings, landmarks, large sporting events). it may be in the back of my mind, but I wouldn't let something like that control my life.

and being in a tall building doesn't scare me - we live on the 11th floor and I often lean pretty far out our window to see parades or protestors. it scares the hell out of SO, lol.

[Kore]

Aug 21, 2012 11:53:49 GMT -5 Daria Morgandorffer said:

Yes, I have vertigo and would panic/pass out in a building above the 10th floor. Just thinking about being in the top of a skyscraper makes me dizzy. I'm really lucky that my office is on the second floor, because it's located in a Chicago high-rise.

This is kind of how I am. It makes me dizzy & panicky to ride up higher than ~ 10 floors. The observation deck of our state capitol is on the 27th floor, and I nearly passed out riding the elevator up there.

[Deleted]

I am petrified of heights, so I might not be able to work in a skyscraper depending on the floor. I have panic attacks.

[wanderlustfoodie]

My answer is no. I used to work on the 34th floor and never thought a thing about it. I work on a much lower floor now but my building is attached to a prominent NYC landmark so my building occasionally gets evacuated due to terrorist tests/alerts/etc.

[chicken]

I worked in a 50-something story building in NYC and I was the female fire warden for my floor (21st floor). Maybe volunteering for something like that, where you felt like you had some control or purpose over potential chaos, would reassure you.

[Deleted]

No. My first job out of college was located in the Citigroup building in Manhattan. I had to walk down 42 fights of stairs during the blackout that summer. I felt bad for everyone who was in a higher floor than mine. That shit hurt after a while!

We also saw snipers regularly since the building was somehow a target. It never fazed me and it still doesn't.

[anna7602]

Aug 21, 2012 15:55:54 GMT -5 v said:

Aug 21, 2012 15:46:37 GMT -5 chicken said:

I worked in a 50-something story building in NYC and I was the female fire warden for my floor (21st floor). Maybe volunteering for something like that, where you felt like you had some control or purpose over potential chaos, would reassure you.

At my old firm, fire wardens for each floor got awesome neon pinneys with "[FIRM NAME] Floor [xx]" on them in glow-in-the-dark letters on the back. At my new firm, fire wardens get red baseball hats with a picture of the building and "[BUILDING NAME] Fire Warden" embroidered on them. As a result, I DESPERATELY want to be a fire warden, but positions are competitive because of the awesome swag so I don't think my day will ever come

Interesting. At my [former] crappy work building in Soho, no one really wanted to be fire warden. The job fell to the director of development since she seemed the most practical & level-headed employee at our artsy non-profit (on a floor of similarly arsty enterprises).