Bad Vibrations

I'm talking intermittent-throughout-the-work-day, long lasting, very low frequency, drives-you-crazy-with-the-deep-humming-sound, rattles-everything-on-your-desk (and your desk too), feeling-it-through-your-feet-and-legs, can't-get-away-from-it-anywhere vibrations that have been occurring at work due to a major construction project across the street. I'm quite certain that this treatment would be an effective means of torture, because it drives. me. crazy. And it has been happening over and over for weeks.

Not sure why, exactly. I drive by that construction site every morning, and it just looks like a big pit with a pickup truck or two, a few construction workers milling around, and a line of port-o-potties. The building that used to be there is long gone, and the blasting stopped months ago. I don't see anything there that looks even remotely rumble inducing. Maybe the Psychology Department is doing an experiment on people cracking up in the workplace due to unexplained, loud rumbly noises that shake the foundation.

I'm not sure which is worse - the low frequency insanity-inducing rumbling or the far-more-frequent-than-is-reasonable testing of the extremely loud and startling fire alarm system. It's a close call. I'll have to go with the fire alarm on safety grounds. (It also scares the shit out of me every single time.) The high frequency of testing is very likely to lead to a "crying wolf" sort of result, where all I would do in the event of a real fire is slam my office door shut in annoyance as I try to reduce the eardrum piercing volume down to something that won't make me cry. It never occurs to me that it could be a real fire. I'm well trained.