Fire Alarm Fun! (bit long)

[WHShit]

Ok, I am sure that this is not a "new" topic, in that everyone has probably experianced it before, but it is still sucky!

While upstairs in the Books department, the fire alarm went off. Now, we were not having a drill or a test, so as far as anyone knew, it was the real thing! We (staff) start trying to get the customers out, but they are reluctant to go. Here are some of the *stars* of the show:

ATLAS MAN:
He was just standing, reading an atlas from the shelf, while everyone was shouting and the alarm is going off around him. He is told that the fire alarm is going off and he needs to leave calmly out the front exit. He makes a sound like "hmph" and continues to read. He is told again, more strictly, that he needs to leave. He says "fine" and starts to walk, still carrying the atlas. He is told that he needs to leave the atlas in the shop. He asks "why"? He wants to go downstairs and pay for it. He is told, that THE FIRE ALARM IS GOING OFF, and he can't pay for it. He needs to LEAVE THE SHOP! He gets an attitude and finally gives in.

OLD PENCIL HAG:
She is standing by the magazines, downstairs, just browsing, while about 5 employees are shouting to customers that they need to leave. She is completely oblivious to the chaos around her. I go up to her and tell her that there is a fire alarm going off and she needs to leave the store. She says "oh my" and goes up to the front till to pay. I tell her that she can't pay, as there is an alarm sounding and everyne has to leave. She looks at me in shock, horrid brown and chipped teeth showing, and says "but I need to buy my PENCILLLL"! She sticks the pencil too close to my face, obviously to emphasize her pencil buying need. I take pencil and tell her she can buy it later and usher her out.

ADAMANT FRONT TILL POSSE:
After dealing with ATLAS MAN, I come downstairs to get everyone else out. I find two employees at the front tills telling everyone that they need to leave and that they can't serve anyone. The FTP just stands there, and even more jackasses join the Posse. I tell all of the FTP that they need to leave all their purchases and leave the store, as there is a (friggin' loud) alarm going off! They stare at me and continue to stand there. At this point one of the employees has left the till, but one still remains, and is still saying that she can't serve and that everyone needs to leave. They all stand there. I tell them again......repeat 2 more times. Finally, the person who was next in line puts her newspapers down and goes to leave. What does the next ass clown in line do? Brings their stuff up to the till! Grrrrr!!!! Another employee comes and screams at them to leave their things and exit the store. Slowly, they comply.

NONCHALANT NEWSPAPER MAN
This wonderful specimen was the last man standing. It took 3 of us to get him out. He was reading his newspaper and ignoring everything and everyone around him. He is told that there is an alarm going off and he needs to leave. He looks at us and says "I am reading my newspaper" and continues to do so. He is told in an angry tone that he needs to leave. He gets angry and says "I am just reading my newspaper"! An employee snatches the paper and tells him to leave NOW! He does.

That was just a taste of the stupidity that I had to endure during Fire Alarm Fun! There were soooo many idiots that had no idea. They continued to shop even though you couldn't even hear Pavarotti sing with the alarm being so loud. It was sheer madness! And all the frowns and "tuts" and foot stomping was enough to make you puke!

I really don't understand why people do this. If I was in a shop and an alarm sounded, and kept sounding, and staff were kinda freaking,out, and a bit harried....I would drop all my precious shopping and leave. Why wouldn't you. What if there really WAS a fire? I really thought that there was a fire.....I was worried! We all would have gotten out so much faster if it weren't for these morons and their "NEED" to buy crappy things.

And, after, while we were all standing outside waiting to find out what was going on,(it was the construction workers next door, playing with the fire alarm, which they thought was deactivated...wtf?) it was like a sitcom watching everyone trying to get into the shop. There is only a certain amount of times you can pull on a door before you realize that it is not gonna open.....or so I thought. My god, if I stepped anywhere near the idiots that couldn't understand why the door wouldn't open, I would have gotten saturated in dead brain cells and stupid. You could almost hear the light bulbs popping up and then promptly busting in their heads!

Anyone else have any fire alarm/drill stories? Love to hear them!

[aurelemsrealm]

At least a herd of gazelles know when to run from a hungry lion......

I'm sorry, I know I shouldn't laugh because I'd have taken to a few of them with a cattle prod given the option, but their reactions are just ridiculous enough to merit laughter at their expense. I bet you wished for sprinklers to get everyone's attention by the time it was done.

[WHShit]

At least a herd of gazelles know when to run from a hungry lion......

I'm sorry, I know I shouldn't laugh because I'd have taken to a few of them with a cattle prod given the option, but their reactions are just ridiculous enough to merit laughter at their expense. I bet you wished for sprinklers to get everyone's attention by the time it was done.

Funny you mention the sprinklers....we all said that we should have them. The customers are just evil enough the have the threat of melting from getting water on themselves. They would scatter like cockroaches when someone turns on the light!

[cinema guy]

We are trained that we should leave anyone who refuses to leave after one polite request and one less polite request, although we should report their presence to the manager who will inform the fire brigade.

If you have that much trouble in a store, I dread to think how much trouble a cinema full of 2000+ customers will be.

[BookstoreEscapee]

I posted in another recent thread about the time the alarm went off while they were testing it and they guy couldn't get it to turn off (took an hour before it stopped). We didn't really evacuate people since we knew there was no fire but people made their way out (bitching all the way, naturally), but of course had to buy their stuff first. And guess who got to ring them up, with the alarm speaker blaring right above her head? Yes, that's right, it was me. And where were my wonderful coworkers for those 10 minutes I was stuck there? Why, outside away from the noise, of course! Luckily the last customer finally left and I got to escape too, until they finally turned the thing off.

The other thing that was fun was when the power would go out for extended periods, which happened a couple times because of accidents on the highway. Then we had to evacuate for safety reasons because it was too dark in most of the store. The customers would have to be coaxed out, but only after we put their stuff on hold for them because we couldn't ring anyone up without power!

[scruff]

so far i've not had to deal with this, but new job has 2 alarm sounds, one the traditional 'leave now' fire alarm, and the other a 'the nearby nuclear plant has an issue, everyone stay inside and close the windows' ....
that one is going to be fun....

[karma_gypsy]

You know, WHShit, I feel bad for you and your fellow employees. Like you said. . . "What if this was a real fire?" And what if there was and the situation went on like it did in your post? Then what? You and your co-workers, trying your damndest to move those folk along, and you guys are forced to stay behind and make sure no one has fallen behind.

It doesn't take much for flame to spread and smoke to start filling up the store. It makes me almost angry to see those customers not care and to go about their business. I can't really understand why they would want to stay (at least get out of the store to get away from the blaring noise). Well, I suppose that would be the *logical* thing to do . . . But still, to damn near man-handle and escort people out when their lives could possibly be in danger and not even get a 'thank you.' I hope no one, ever, has to go through a situation like that (even if there is a fire).

[Anakah]

Man if they refused to leave, I say save yourself. Maybe its nature's way of weeding out the dumbasses. Yeah its mean but if someone is refusing to leave and you don't know if its a drill, just go. It could be real and you could be putting your own life in danger because someone else is just too stupid to save their own.

[Catwoman2965]

It's amazing the stupidity of people sometimes. Even when something very bad can happen at any moment, all they can think is themselves.

I went into work last night, and was putting clothes away, and took some over to the other side of the store...both me and the other associate commented that something smelled bad...but couldn't figure what it was, so we go about our merry way. We were even joking that we hoped it wasn't us!

About 5 minutes later, the manager comes running, saying EVERYONE OUT NOW! and right behind her is a cop. Apparently the contractor building the new stores in our center hit the gas line...that was the smell! so we go out, and you can really smell it, plus you hear this loud "whoosing" sound. They made us leave so fast we couldn't lock the doors, or do anything...yet we still had customers in the store we had to YELL at to get the you know what out! Mind you, we are on the end where they're adding on...we ended up at the far end of the center, watching police cars, ambulances, and fire trucks arrive, but none were needed.

and even then, they were blocking off the once entrance, and the smell of gas is everywhere, people are attempting to get in their cars and leave! hello! can you say explosion? I yelled at some woman on her cell, not paying attention, getting in her car that she coudln't, and she looked at me like i had 3 heads, and how dare you tell me what to do. but she finally shut up and got out of the car...

I don't know about them, but i smell and hear gas whoosing out rapildly like that, i am getting as far away as i possibly can...fortunately the gas co was there quickly, and shut it off, and we got back in about an hour later...but even then, the manager said, go in, lock the doors for a bit so we can get situated...nope, the customers beat us to it, and were in the door before us.

[JustADude]

Man if they refused to leave, I say save yourself. Maybe its nature's way of weeding out the dumbasses.

Love the idea. They'll be and I'll be ... of course I'll also be , which just doesn't really work, since I look horrible in red. I'd rather be . Being a behemoth does have it's advantages in that though.

The one time I had to evacuate a place I worked it was on a packed Saturday evening. The fire was small and doused before It could spread, but they were closing the store until the firemen got there, and also due to the massively disgusting, toxic smell of burned plastic. I was told to ask those who hadn't already bailed, a good half dozen dumbasses, to leave. I was told to ask politely once then order them to get out. I was also told that, if they didn't listen after being ordered to leave to give them a warning about physical force then throw them out. Only had one especially craniorectal-interfaced patron actually needed to be threatened:

Me: The always professional JustADude
Idiot: Guy trying to get

Me: *Polite as can be. Grandpa always said to be kind to the feeble-minded, after all* I'm sorry, sir, but the store is closing because of the fire. We'll be open again by tomorrow night.
Idiot: Hold your horses, I'm just deciding between <two equally stupid movies I felt didn't give me my money's worth even though they were free rentals>.
Me: *Shifting to civil-tongued commands.* Sir, the registers are already shut down. I'm here to make sure everyone gets out, so please put the movies down and exit the store.
Idiot: I said I wasn't done deciding. Go bother someone else!
Me: Sir, the store is closed... not to mention full of smoke... If you don't leave immediately I'm authorized to escort you out by force.
Idiot: You can't do that!
Me: *Extremely curt from here on out* I can, sir, and will.
Idiot: I'll have you charged with false arrest!
Me: No, you won't. *grabs movies and points towards doors with them* Besides the fact that this is a private business and I, as an officer of said establishment, have asked you repeatedly to leave, I'm going to be kicking you out, not making you stay.
Idiot: Why... that's... you... I'll still get you arrested for assault!
Me: Wrong again. Even if it weren't for the fact that I have every right to forcibly remove an unwelcome person off the property under state law, dragging an obviously delusional man from a smoke-filled building is protected by the Good Samaritan laws.
Idiot: Fine! *stomps off*
Me: *goes to deal with the rest of the dry pool divers that don't know to leave a (as far as they knew) burning building*

[Rolling Star]

Man if they refused to leave, I say save yourself. Maybe its nature's way of weeding out the dumbasses. Yeah its mean but if someone is refusing to leave and you don't know if its a drill, just go. It could be real and you could be putting your own life in danger because someone else is just too stupid to save their own.

Agreed. Forget the morons who just have to buy a pencil! Let them burn. Okay..that was kinda mean, but whatever.

[Imogene]

Note to self: Set up a smoke machine to start whenever a fire alarm goes off. Just like in those old mobile fire safety houses. Once the alarm sounds, perhaps the presence of smoke will get the morons to leave, if not pass out.

[AirHostess]

I'd just leave them to fry if they are too stupid too evacuate.

Nothing like that ever happened to me when flying but if people were too busy doing whatever to evacuate the plane if there was an emergency, I would have left them and saved myself.

I do recall working in Borders one summer and having the fire alarm go off and Starbucks customers moaning that their coffee would go cold. Sigh.

[cinema guy]

Once the alarm sounds, perhaps the presence of smoke will get the morons to leave,

Nope. According to our fire training, people will tend to simply mill around, wondering what to do, unless someone tells them to leave and shows them which way to go. In the event of fire cinema employees have to go into the auditorium, point to the fire door, and shout, 'This way please!'

Of course in the evnt of actual fire, they are likely to go towards it.

[Gravekeeper]

Ugh, I get the same sort of thing with our property management clients. Whenever a fire alarm goes off people call in to A) Ask what the alarm is for, B) Ask if should do anything or my fav C) Call me to bitch that its going off and tell me to shut it off.

News flash: GET. OUT. OF. BUILDING. Fire BAD.

You know I have a friend in England with diplomatic immunity and he can get it extended to me if I travel with him. If I ever visit London I'm going to come to your store and just kick someone in the ass as hard as possible. A good running punt if there's enough space in an aisle.

He'll lose the immunity pretty fast when his superior's hear of it, but it'll be worth it.