Fire Alarm Suck

[Jay 2K Winger]

Inspired by this thread.

A few years ago at the wholesale club, we had an honest-to-Frisbee fire scare. I'm at the front door this particular weekend, when someone points out smoke in the aisle. I look where he's pointing, don't see anything at first, and then quickly radio one of the MoD's to check it out. By the time the MoD gets over there, the smoke is getting really obvious, and you can definitely smell wood burning.

So naturally we pull the fire alarm and ask everyone to leave the building immediately. That means we stop all transactions and get everyone out.

Well, the sheeple shopping assume that "evacuate the building" means "wait outside in the vestibule." I step outside and tell them, "Everyone, OUTSIDE the building! That means OUTSIDE, NOT in the vestibule!"

As this was my first time having to deal with this situation, I was not aware that the regulations state that everyone must wait in the parking lot, on the other side of the service road in front of the store. An MoD tells me, so I once again step forward and shout it, "Everyone, IN THE PARKING LOT! ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE ROAD!" There was some grumbling, but everyone did as told.

The fire department arrives, investigates, and the fire turns out to have been outside. Someone had chucked their cigarette butt into the mulch by our "smoker's stop," there being no ashtrays over there that day for some reason. The mulch had caught fire, and the smoke had gone under the foundation of the building and into the club.

The all-clear is given, everyone goes back inside, and there's the predictable bitch-fest from people who were inconvenienced by all this. I find out later that some people had actually tried to refuse to leave until their orders were rung up, and one in particular got quite pissed when my (now ex) Awesome Coworker CT point-blank refused, saying she had a "higher calling, it's called 'Mommy.'" Her point being that she was not going to endanger her life and leave her little girl without a mommy.

I got plenty of people who were demanding to know what the fire was about, who set it, etc., and all I could tell them was, "I can't discuss it, but if I knew who did it, there would be Words. Four-letter ones. And then probably just unintelligible shouts of pain and misery."

[chainedbarista]

idiots who refuse to leave during a potentially life threatening situation are BEGGING for a boot in the ass over their behavior. i'm not, nor should anyone else EVER risk their lives over a few measly trinkets; anyone not smart enough to realise that shouldn't leave their homes-they're simply not fit for public exposure.

i'd like to add another rant over the moron and the cigarette in the mulch, but my feelings over that might get nasty (non-smoker who's lived with and cleaned up after many a lazy smoker).

[mattm04]

One of our MODs was at another store when a fire (like smoke coming the the roof and flames, a heater had malfunctioned) at a neighboring store (apparently all the alarms in the building were interconnected)

The Alarm in that store was "*horn* pause *horn* pause a few times then a automated voice came on that said "Attention! Attention! A fire emergency has been reported in the building. Evacuate the building immidetley using the nearest exit. Do not use elevators! Do not use elevators!" The voice was repeated twice then the horn for a while, voice message once, and repeat until silenced.

Even with that some customers just kept pushing their cart around like the alarm was not going off.

When they wee finally outside and saw the fire next door, some bitched to the MOD that they did not tell them it was real. Yeah, sorry if the alarm goes off and we know it was not being worked on, we assume it is real.

[Geek King]

Yeah... Good rule of thumb: If you haven't been told there will be a fire alarm test, act as if it is real.

Then again, this is from the guy who would ride out the monthly fire alarm test in college by turning off the lights and pulling the blinds once I realized their idea of clearing the dorm rooms consisted of knocking on doors.

[Chromatix]

At university, we didn't have many fire alarm tests - at least, not in the residences. We *did* have plenty of false alarms, usually from people cooking badly (often while drunk).

So we got plenty of practice at standing outside in the cold, with or without warm dressing gowns or whatever we'd grabbed on the way out. I made a point of staying in my room long enough to put on enough clothing to survive outside for the duration.

And just this afternoon, a fire engine roared past me on it's way to respond to an alarm. The alarm turned out to be in a car park which I walked past shortly afterwards. The firemen were trying to work out what had set it off, since there wasn't anything obvious going on - but it seemed to take them a couple of minutes to get inside to turn the alarm off.

[TOLady]

At our building, we have twice yearly tests. Of course we're not supposed to know about them, but with almost 300 people, it's bound to leak out somehow.

I hate them because I don't do well on stairs going around and around and around.

In any case, it is drilled into us to proceed directly to our "safe site" approximately 2 city blocks away. Do not stop for a coffee, do not collect $100 and especially DO NOT STOP FOR ICE CREAM OR POP distributed by our building management along the way as a thank you for participating in the drill. Go. Right. There.

It can't be made any plainer. And there is always a follow-up email from HR regarding this particular point. Always!

So - at the last drill, we're at our safe place and attendance is being taken. We are not allowed to disperse until we're all accounted for - team leaders are supposed to know who's called in sick, who's at a meeting out of the office, etc.

Waiting, waiting, waiting... Hot and thirsty and piles of work on the desk not getting smaller.

Finally, we get the go ahead to return to the office. By our Head of HR. Lickin' away at a frozen treat clearly labelled "Courtesy of Building Management"! This person was the last one to get to the safe place.

Numerous emails were sent to our safety team about that one. This person is notorious for the do as I say, not as I do, but dammit this one took the cake. It was sweltering out that day and we were all thirsty and hot from having to walk all those flights of stairs!

Arghhh!
____________
One month closer to retirement (unless EQ hires me at her hotel!)

[Golden Phoenix]

Our fire alarm is tested once a week.

And once every couple of months some twit will burn their toast and the alarm will go off for real, at which point we evacuate and wait for the fire depatment to show up.

The number of customers on the phones who will bitch about the fact we have to leave is incredible. I'm sorry but i'm not risking my life so you can bitch at me about our prices.

[crazylegs]

When I worked at Music Shop I was the person responsible for fire alarms, evac drills etc.

Every week we checked every fire alarm call point, and evac'd once a quarter. Yes it's over and above what the law requires but covers your arse nicely!

[Sonoma]

Yeah... Good rule of thumb: If you haven't been told there will be a fire alarm test, act as if it is real.

And if your Real Estate & Facilities personnell come out from their offices when the alarm's going off, saying they don't know what's going on, you just get the heck out of the building.

[Elevator]

I've been through a couple tornado scares and fire drills when I worked at the movie theater. The main thing about those situations is the relationship completely changes between customer and employee. It's no longer 'service provider,' it's life saver.

I never fucked around. If anyone gave me lip during a tornado, I'd tell them if they wanted to help themselves they would shut the fuck up and listen. You have to assume a position of unshakeable power. This isn't a matter of being inconvenienced, it's a matter of assuring people's safety. Some people don't understand the transition and still try to throw their weight around. That shit simply doesn't exist. I've had people refuse to leave the theater during a fire drill. I was nearly sued because I put down their popcorn and snacks (which subsequently spilled on the floor) grabbed their arm and began to hustle them out. This particular customer was screaming for a manager and police once we got outside. A firefighter had to restrain the guy and tell him that if it wasn't for employees like myself, he could very well be dead in a real life situation.

Keep your head up, it's not our fault some people have tunnel vision.

[Nyx]

My boyfriend has a story about the time there was a fire in the wal*mart he worked at. He had to stop a guy who was trying to go back into the store TWICE. The guy kept going around the clothing to keep shopping. I think maybe we should just let these people stay, Darwinism in action.

[daleduke17]

My boyfriend has a story about the time there was a fire in the wal*mart he worked at. He had to stop a guy who was trying to go back into the store TWICE. The guy kept going around the clothing to keep shopping. I think maybe we should just let these people stay, Darwinism in action.

Lawsuits, lawyers, court, blah blah blah.

Darwinism is restrained by lawsuits.

[amphrite]

We had a Chlorine gas leak at our pool once (well, I was about the second that month. The duct tape was old.) and the group that was in the facility was so difficult about leaving. They took their time showering and dressing, and complained about us hurrying them and telling them to leave. Then they told us we had bad evacuation procedures.

[Peppergirl]

I used to work in a travel call center for a large corporation. This corporation is one of the biggest in the world, and its headquarters is located downtown Cincinnati.

(That's the extent of my hints. )

The call center was on the 14th floor of a high-rise directly across the street from said corporation.

This was back in the early '90s, and the company who ran the high-rise would tell our management when there was to be a fire drill. I know, didn't make much sense to me either, but that's the way they did it.

Anyway, the management of the call center called the head-honcho of the corporation and explained that at this certain time, the phones would be unmanned for approximately 20-30 minutes, so that they could conduct this fire drill.

He promptly FLIPPED OUT and threatened to PULL THE ACCOUNT if the peons (travel agents) were permitted to participate in the fire drill. God forbid their employees would have to be on hold when calling in to book travel!



The sad part, our managers went along with it and advised us we weren't allowed to participate. Yes, we were the only company in a 38 floor high rise that was not allowed to 'participate' in the FIRE DRILL.

Oddly enough, one of the girls who worked there happened to have a father who was still pretty high-up in the Cincinnati fire department.Apparently this broke all sorts of city fire codes.

Needless to say, the guy didn't take too kindly to the thought of his 22 year old daughter and mother of his two precious grandsons not being able to participate in said fire drill.

Fines and penalties all around, most which got passed off to the company who refused to let us participate. As well as my company and the building management for allowing it to happen.

Any guesses as to who this awesome heroic girl was???

Hint: One of my nicknames is 'firebrat' which is an affectionate term for kids of firefighters.

[Anthony K. S.]

This all reminds me of something that happened when I was in college :


I was one of several students who were sitting in a classroom one day, waiting for our professor to arrive, when the building's fire alarm started going off.

A couple of students (including me) immediately grabbed our bags and got up to leave, but most of the students just sat there, completely motionless.

This particular building on our campus had had at least two or three false fire alarms in the previous few weeks, so when the alarm went off this time, many students assumed that it was another false alarm and totally ignored it.

For the record . . . It actually was another false alarm, yes. But what if it hadn't been? My thought process at the time was quite simple :

"Is this another false alarm? Probably, yes.

Am I willing to literally bet my life that it's another false alarm? Not a chance in ****."

As I was heading for the door, I warned the other students that it wasn't worth taking the risk that it might be a real fire. A few of them grudgingly acknowledged the point and got up to leave as well . . .

As for the ones who chose to ignore the alarm altogether, I can only hope that they get it through their heads that some risks just aren't worth taking . . . before they find themselves trapped inside of a burning building for real.