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Comment by userbinator | Hacker News Reader

At all the places I've worked at, a stranger would not have made it far past the front entrance without being stopped by security, or even been able to enter the building at all (access cards, etc.) Maybe it's a cultural difference, or does the tech industry just have a much higher concern for securing offices?

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I’d say in Japan this type of thing “doesn’t happen” so people leave their iPhones on tables to hold seats at busy coffee, and do other things that give the benefit of doubt to strangers.

I’m curious where you live? I live in Minneapolis and basically all the places I’ve worked, as well as visiting friends working a stranger could walk directly into the building. Especially multi-business centers. At one of the places they might have been asked if they needed help, but they wouldn’t be stopped, the receptionist would have just assumed they knew where they were going.

I mean certainly major business like BestBuy Corporate and Target Corporate have security, but most small to medium don’t.

It depends. Capella Tower has card reader access at the elevators, along with some other buildings. Many tenant spaces have card reader access as well, typically ones with health/financial records.

Note: I work for an electrical contractor and run work in Class A office space in DT Mpls

Really? I've worked and seen a few places in Minneapolis and they all had pretty decent security.

Granted, only the 'office' areas were secured--every building, which was shared by multiple offices--had a common area which was not secured at all.

Minneapolis has a fair amount of those group office buildings that provide security as part of rent.

I work at a Minneapolis area company. A few years ago there was an employee who was showing signs of mental illness. He was let go, and the next day we were issued key cards for entry into the building - it was open prior to that.

At both places I work at right now, this scenario could easily happen. The lobbies are open and only the elevators and stairs have access cards. Actually, most places I've worked at were like this.

However, I can't imagine setting fire to the lobby would kill 20+ people in any of these places, since they all have many emergency exits. To me the craziest part of this story is the amount of destruction this person caused with just a can of gasoline.

IIRC, the arsonist set fires in all the emergency stairwells.

At all the places I've worked at (Germany), a stranger could basically just walk in, take the stairs / the elevator and enter the office. No locked doors, no security, nothing. Often left my keys, smartphone or wallet on the table when going to lunch. Never had any problems whatsoever.

It's not a cultural difference, but a question of company size.

Jupp.

My dad was an small-time advertising exec in Germany during the "Mad Men" era... being able to make unannounced visits to senior offices (with a ton of charm to pull it off) was a central part of his strategy for acquiring new customers.

I imagine that is due to the combination of easily available firearms in the US and the ethically dubious position of a lot of SV companies.

I work in the UK and I have only worked in one office with a security desk. Most are very relaxed.

It's a little three story building that looks like an apartment tucked into a residential street. And it's an animation studio. There's no way they have the size or resources to retain full-time security.

Something as simple as a lock on the entrances would've been enough deterrence, and that's not exactly resource-intensive.

Judging by the downvotes, I may have given the impression that I've only worked in places with very high security with guards patrolling and such; that's not what I meant. I have worked in such offices, but I've never worked in one that didn't at least have a locked entrance that needed an access card to open.

According to the news, the doors had keycard locks but they were opened for the day because of a meeting that involved a lot of visitors

Crime rates in your area must be off the charts.

Their bottom floor had a shop anyway, because so many fans made the pilgrimage to their studio.

The shop is in a different building around the corner.

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Kyoani+%26+Do+Shop/@34.924...

Every newsroom I've worked at or visited had a security guard and required an access card.

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