FlamingText

True Story About Fire Alarms That Totally Changed My Attitude About My Job-

On location, May, Big Building Down South:
While risking my life and the lives of those around me by holding a 20 lb. loose piece of equipment out of a lift 30' in the air trying to attach it to a piece of architecture a Screaming Grape-Faced Man comes flying through the first floor doors directly below me. Directly below the part of my body that is leaning out of the swaying lift, that is. You see, the first floor doors are 60' down and I can see them through the lovely hole in the floor that I am trying to avoid. As Screaming Grape-Faced Man moves deceptively quickly for his ancient frame up the stairs towards me, I pause, assess that no one is about to die because of my actions or the actions of those around me. I slowly move myself and the 20 lb piece of equipment into the confines of the lift cage. As my adrenaline moves my brain from "DON'T DIE" mode to "Extreme and acute analysis of situation" mode, Screaming Grape-Faced Man's words come clear,

"Goddammit, Who's in charge here? You don't know what you are doing! You knew the goddamn fire-alarm would go off! You knew it! You don't know what you are doing! Who's in charge here! (Fuck!) If I hurt myself it's your fault!"

The "Fuck!" was interjected when Screaming Grape-Faced Man fell flat on his screaming grape face when he slipped on a clearly marked machine oil mess in the middle of the stairs.

He gets to the bottom of my lift, still screaming for the person in charge - who happens to be standing three feet away and trying to get Screaming Grape-Faced Man's attention. Once at the bottom of the lift he stops screaming for one peaceful moment as he stares at me, then says,
"Get down from there, you dumb bitch."
At which point I get down from the lift, ignore Screaming Grape-Faced Man, tell my lead that I would be back when I felt like it, and then I left.

So, I felt not one bit of embarassment as I was filled with a more otherworldly sense of detachment from the importance of a silly false alarm.

He was supposed to retire in like, a month or something. I still have my job.

Banjo: HA! old ladies had to run because of you.

It makes me laugh! I love the blog!

J: Screaming grape-faced man needs to relax. He's gonna bust a blood vessel. But, on the plus side, he fell down, which is always good for a laugh.

SW: Actually, it was right by the kids' section.

I opened one of the doors marked "Do Not Open This Door, Eh? Alarm Will Sound" because I was instinctively trying to help out the obviously overburdened worker that I could see through the little window in the door. He was carrying light fixtures down the hall and his arms looked too full to open a door easily.
Anyway, when the alarm went off he looked annoyed, rolled his eyes, then came around to my side, shut off the alarm, and turned to ask me "Can't you read?" while pointing at the bright red lettering on the sign.
Which is a pretty funny question if you think about it, given that we were standing in a library.