There was a fire alarm at work this afternoon. For the longest time there were alarms every week, all but one being false alarms. (The one that wasn't was a small paper fire in the parkade, set by some punk kids who were trying to steal bikes.) There hasn't been one for quite a while. Today we had to evacuate the whole building, which rarely happens.
Each floor has a systematic evacuation routine. On my floor, the patrons were reluctant to leave, even though we're allowed to physically remove them if necessary. The alarm was annoyingly loud, but they just sat there, reading their books like they were deaf. My co-worker had to yell at a guy five times to leave the building, and even then he was still browsing. I also yelled at him, just because I'm mean, and he sauntered (sauntered!) to the exit.
If it were a real fire they would be so dead.
As it was, we lost one of our employees. She went... somewhere... and we didn't find her until we were allowed back in. So, had it been a real fire, the head of our department would be trapped inside looking for her, dealing with smoke inhalation, or dead. Thanks, new girl who didn't want to leave the building, even though the alarm was going off.
Fire alarms kill 20 minutes of work time.
Currently reading :
Sand in My Bra and Other Misadventures: Funny Women Write from the Road (Travelers' Tales)
By Jennifer L. Leo
Release date: March, 2003
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