Full shift today. The fire alarm went off. Sounded like Red Alert on the first Starship Enterprise. For some reason they also set off strobe lights. Using lights for alarms seems kind of odd when this type of job absolutely requires good hearing.

The kids commented to each other about the alarms, but continued working. Not me, though. I evacuated with exactly two other people who knew what fire drills were all about when we were in grade school.

Supervisors ordered us back to work with no explanation for why the alarms were going off. Just get back to work. We'll handle it. You don't need to know anything. Fortunately I had some break time to spend loitering at the main exit until I was sure my burning eyes and cough were psychosomatic. :)

The alarms went off for at least an hour before they got them turned off. No explanation was ever offered. One of the two young men who had tried to evacuate with me said his supervisor had chewed him out.

I told him that everyone in the WTC who made it out alive did so by getting the hell out of there right away. They didn't wait for permission from a supervisor. He said that made him feel better.

The question here isn't so much about why the rest of them didn't know what fire alarms signal. Why didn't they try to leave, and why didn't they at least ask their supervisors what was going on?

-- helen (fire@burning.bright), January 14, 2002

Answers

can you say sheeple?

-- (follow@the.leader), January 14, 2002.

Tunnel vision and that "it's all about me" attitude which so many have adopted...?

-- (cin@cin.cin), January 14, 2002.