I just had the craziest thing happen at work here this morning!
Our Fire Alarm went off....the sharp flashing lights...the whoo-up alarm...the computer generated voice saying "There is a fire in the building, please evacuate immediately, proceed to the nearest stairwell, do NOT take the elevator"...ALL of this was sounding SIMULTANEOUSLY!
Now, if you remember, when we were in school...they taught us to drop everything...do not go for your coat or anything. Leave immediately. I would say that is good advice...because kids can dawdle...and one never knows how close/big the fire may be.
However, it is a completely different story in the corporate world!
When you work in the financial industry, as I do, there are client accounts to protect. We have to shut/lock our computers to avoid a social security number being violated.
So when the alarms went off...I immediately hit CTRL-ALT-DEL to lock my computer....picked up my breakfast (that one of my reps had just brought back for us)....and grabbed my phone and purse...BEFORE exiting to the stairs!! I overheard another group of people asking their admins if they had turned on the Night VM message before leaving...so we don't always do as were taught, I guess!
Yes, this one was a real call...the firetrucks showed up and everything. But it must have been an electrical fire...
Still glad I got to eat! =)
7 comments:
I have only ever experience the fire "drills" at work/school. It was amazing how many people leaving the building with me kept saying..."It's only a drill...I am sure it's not real."
Do we really become so complacent with alarms, that we REALLY don't believe there may be danger?
When I hear the tornado warnings/sirens...I DO NOT take it lightly. But I guess one only takes things like that seriously, once it has been a real-life experience for you.
Amazing...are we Pavlov's dogs OR the Boy who cried "Wolf"?
Glad you are safe, so electrical means you get to go back to work?
Glad you are safe, wild.
When I was at Evangel they used to say that staying in your room when the alarm went off was something like a $50 fine. That's great if you are prepared to go outside, but sometimes the alarm went off in winter, and sometimes people were showering at the time...
So, did you get a fine for "Public Indecency"???? =D
Fortunately, I was not one of the people who happened to be in the shower at the wrong time. :)
UPDATE:
It pays to always follow the directions and NOT go near the elevators during the fire alarm.
It was a generator that operated the elevators in our building that had burned up...and created fire sparks. The maintenance man said that they were still working on cooling the unit down even when I talked to him at 3pm.
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