Ali Talks His Way Past the Guard
Ali took a deep breath and smiled. He was only going to get one shot at this so he knew he had better make it count.
By the time Ali got within twenty feet of the security desk, the guard stood up. Ali could see he wore a gun in a holster on his right hip and his hand was resting on top of it.
“Good morning, sir,” said the guard. “How can I help you?”
“You can help me by rewinding my day by about six hours,” said Ali. “I worked until about eight last night. I had a lot of work to do and I was sure I had done it all but…” His confident smile turned sheepish. “I realized as I was about to go to sleep tonight that, yeah, I’d remembered to do all my work, but I forgot to do something my boss asked me to do for him and,” he smacked his head with the palm of his hand, “he needs it on his desk first thing in the morning, which is like—” he looked at his watch, “five hours from now. So I just came back to get the file he left on my desk and go home, get the work done, and get the folder onto his desk so he never has to know what a complete incompetent I am.”
The guard smiled. “Well, we all have days, or nights, like that. Could I see your ID please, sir?” Ali reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a passport and handed it to the guard.
The guard opened it up and studied the photo inside, then looked at Ali, then looked back at the passport photo. “Well, Mr. al-Hassan, it’s definitely you,” the guard said, looking back at Ali. “But we don’t allow people to use their passports as proof of ID. You should have been issued a pass card for this building. Do you have your card?”
Ali shook his head. “I was never issued a card. I have only been working in the building for a couple days. I was brought in on short notice to do consultation for the upcoming International Trade Embargo Impact Conference, and because I was brought in so quickly, I was told it would take a few more days to get my pass card and that, in the meantime, my passport would be enough to get me into the building.”
“I’m afraid you were misinformed, Mr. al-Hassan. Anyone working in this building, or even needing access to it, for more than one business day must be issued a pass card, or they cannot be admitted beyond the lobby.”