Qwest CEO Joe Nacchio and other fat cats in Denver skyscraper evacuated!

April 19, 2002 8:46 PM

Qwest CEO Joe Nacchio and other fat cats in Denver skyscraper evacuated! The workaday stiffs on the lower floors weren't informed of threat.

The decision not to evacuate the building completely, he says, was driven by the late hour of the day because many occupants had already left the building. "The big part of the reason was to avoid a mass panic," he said.

Is this also how they issue earnings reports?
posted by crasspastor (9 comments total)

Okay. I'm not getting it now that Joe Nacchio was actually in the building. The article merely states, "the floors where the top execs are concentrated
-- were evacuated". And the accusations are denied by the company. Nevertheless, something to stew over. Was part of the building evacuated while other parts weren't or not? Seems like it should be easy to substantiate that an evacuation did occur.

I apologize for the insubstantiated rabblerousing by including the Qwest CEO by name when he may or may not have been there.
posted by crasspastor at 8:58 PM on April 19, 2002

You have been a very bad little boy this year.
posted by Settle at 9:02 PM on April 19, 2002

Don't worry, Qwest is going to get theirs. There's a nice juicy story in the current issue of Fortune about just what a FuckedCompany Nacchio has created. As the tagline says, "Yes, he may have saved Qwest from collapse, but the telco that Joe built doesn't have much of a future."
posted by aaron at 9:11 PM on April 19, 2002

Heh... maybe the threat was by a disgrunt specifically against executives.

I won't defend them in general, but, there's a good chance in this case that they were not acting with callous disregard for human lives.
posted by dissent at 9:15 PM on April 19, 2002

This, plus Milan, plus Tampa, plus going all the way back to Columbine, adds up to a low-grade fear that this is The New Way to Suicide.
posted by dhartung at 9:27 PM on April 19, 2002

You have to think that there is an evacuation plan for the whole building. Wouldn't fire regulations demand such a thing? And aren't these plans in place to minimise panic? Why didn't someone just pull the fire alarm?
posted by jackiemcghee at 10:33 PM on April 19, 2002

How can you have a "mass panic" when "many occupants had already left the building"? Was there even one other soul in that building besides "the executives"? That there is the story. Seems like a little doublespeak to me. This may in fact, be nothing but rumor I might add. That's why I ask, if the building was partially evacuated, which seems to be corroboratory with what the story reveals, why the hell wasn't the albeit partially populated building, evacuated as well? Why isn't, to use a flippant cliche, what was good for the goose good for the gander?

Was there even really a threat, if the only one's who could substatiate such a claim are the executives who aren't talking? Is this the product of a disgruntled rumor mill? This story needs substantiation! Somebody though, was arrested for "a plot" to crash his plane into the building. That much seems assured. Therefore, did the fucking evacuation take place or not?
posted by crasspastor at 10:56 PM on April 19, 2002

I don't work for Qwest, but I work for another telco who does business with Qwest, and there's someone over in one of those buildings (can't say which one, as I don't know) in Denver working until 8 PM Mountain time at least...I talk to them almost every night. I wasn't working on March 25, so I didn't hear any grumblings that night.

If this is true, it doesn't surprise me in the least. Their latest round of layoffs didn't show much concern for the low-level employee, for one thing.
posted by Electric Elf at 1:42 AM on April 20, 2002

I used to work for Qwest. I was in shock at the horror of purchasing USWest and excused myself from that disaster the moment it was announced.
posted by xyzzy at 5:47 AM on April 22, 2002