Vortex posted on Facebook.

You know, fear of earthquake was one of only two things in the negative column when we were deciding to move to the west coast. I...can't imagine. Really. Hope everybody's safe.

Bonny, I'm sorry you're having trouble dealing with this. Atavistic fear isn't something easily combatted.

Consuela, I don't know how you're not throwing things in rage. It's toxic, no matter how much you've invested. Between the (not-you) hiring situation and your nemesis, I think somewhere else--almost anywhere else--is going to seem like a beach in Tahiti by comparison.

Allyson, I retweeted your story and that's exactly when the earthquake happened and so I think the quake was either your fault or mine. Or GM's. (I'll RT it again later this evening.)

I think that after a quake, indoors vs. outdoors depends on where you are. We're in a suburban office park so if you go out to the parking lot there's not much overhead.* I wasn't concerned about the structure so much as the gas/electric/water/Final Destination doom scenario. So on balance, outdoors seemed safer here. In a downtown area I'd stay inside, because the gas/fire stuff would worry me less than broken windows raining down on me.

*Naturally, a large group of my co-workers evacuated and then stood just outside the front door, along the side of the building. I assume those are the same people who can't work the coffee maker.

A native Californian went FLYING out the building. "You people don't have CA building codes!"

Calistas, how earthquake-proofed is your home? I don't have anything framed hanging over anywhere I sleep, but nothing is tacked to the wall. I do have a tall bookshelf near my bed, and a tall lingerie chest of drawers, but because of the angles they can't fall on me, although they can dump their contents onto me.

I *think* my dining table is pretty stable for me to hide under.

Bonny, are you OK? I tried calling to offer a friendly voice, but couldn't get through. Not surprising, but wanted to check.

Thanks Todd. I'm okay for values of my body and dog are safe, so I'm actually fine.

My mind is in a bit of disarray.

I take pride in managing my life such that what few fears I do have are fairly easily managed. When one on the short list goes boom, so does my sense of well-being.

My landlord offered me alcohol. I chose food. Bye bye diet. See you again soon, I hope.

Naturally, a large group of my co-workers evacuated and then stood just outside the front door, along the side of the building. I assume those are the same people who can't work the coffee maker.

Strega, I used to see this all the time in CA. "Let's press our faces against the window to see what happens next!"

Sigh.

I know my home is not very earthquake-proofed. I have a loft office over my bed, and I worry that the computer monitor will fall over on top of my bed and kill me.

And the TV would probably fall down and break, but really only the computer monitor would kill me.

Unrelated to things falling down, I love the nailpolish colour Rihanna is wearing here.

I thought the idea was to, you know, hire you for the job you are already (and have been) doing.

Yeah, but at the moment they can't hire me because I didn't make the qualified list under the open competitive, and I'm not eligible for lateral hiring. So if nobody on either list is currently actually qualified (as opposed to being ranked as qualified by the scoring), then they will cancel the announcement and try again with stricter criteria.

I don't know whether it's worth trying to stay, frankly. Argh.

However it sounds like I should hear pretty quickly whether there is anyone qualified on the lateral list. If yes, then I look for another job, because they can't cancel the process if they did, in fact, find a qualified applicant. If not, then I have to decide whether it's worth it to stick around for another round of hiring.

Maybe your comments here only highlight the negatives, but it sounds like Crazy Nemesis Lady alone makes the workplace kinda toxic.