When coffee doesn't wake you up...
As if friday mornings are not miserable enough, some of them have booby traps attached. Now, there is this thing in my mind about electric buttons and switches. Whenever I see one, it somehow appeals to my mind to tinker with it. The more innocent it looks, the greater the attraction to put it's functionality to the test. So, this morning, I was at the Admin lady's desk, waiting for her to get off the phone, when something small and round and bright red under the desk caught my eye. It looked deceptively harmless and somewhere in my half-asleep brain it seemed like the poor fella would be happier if pressed. Being a strong believer in happiness and overcome by a rather large dose of irresistible impulse, I obliged.
Brrrriiiiiinnnnnnnnnggggggggggggggggggrrrrriiiiiiiiiiinnnnnnggggggggggg..... a ear-splitting alarm axed through the office. Everyone looked up. The Admin lady, whose back was towards me, spun around in her chair with a shocked look. I was too busy covering my ears to play innocent. Soon, everybody was nervously emptying their seats and the office building in a line, not sure if they should be amused or alarmed. The Admin lady grabbed me by the arm and simply said, "Come" as we joined the others outside the building. From the corner of my eye, I saw the payroll lady putting on a bright yellow apron with big, black words written, "FIRE WARDEN". Oops.
When we had safely marched down the hill, away from the building, I could see that the other offices in the same building were being emptied out too. While the men had carried their jackets or papers and pens or coffee cups, most women had managed to salvage their handbags and were digging out their sunglasses, smokes, novels, etc. Who knew how long you had wait there. I caught up with my Manager and asked him what had happened. He explained, "Oh that was just the fire alarm that went off. We're not yet sure if it is a drill or if we should be watching out for flames engulfing the building." Right. Just when my sleepy-shocked brain had caught up with the courage to own my foolery, an old gentleman in a bright orange apron with bigger and bolder "FIRE WARDEN" words scrawled across the chest approached the group. "Ok folks", he said, "that was our quarterly fire drill". Then he went on to tell us how long it had taken everyone to evacuate the building and congratulated us for cooperating so well. The drama was over and we returned back to to our seats. When we reached upstairs again, I gave the red button an incriminating look. Pointing to the little bugger, I asked the Admin lady what the harmless looking red button was. "Oh that!", she said dismissively, "Its the old button for opening the main door for visitors. Now, we have to use a code on the telephone, so anyone can do it even if I'm not around. I'm not even sure this red button works any more".
Right!
Brrrriiiiiinnnnnnnnnggggggggggggggggggrrrrriiiiiiiiiiinnnnnnggggggggggg..... a ear-splitting alarm axed through the office. Everyone looked up. The Admin lady, whose back was towards me, spun around in her chair with a shocked look. I was too busy covering my ears to play innocent. Soon, everybody was nervously emptying their seats and the office building in a line, not sure if they should be amused or alarmed. The Admin lady grabbed me by the arm and simply said, "Come" as we joined the others outside the building. From the corner of my eye, I saw the payroll lady putting on a bright yellow apron with big, black words written, "FIRE WARDEN". Oops.
When we had safely marched down the hill, away from the building, I could see that the other offices in the same building were being emptied out too. While the men had carried their jackets or papers and pens or coffee cups, most women had managed to salvage their handbags and were digging out their sunglasses, smokes, novels, etc. Who knew how long you had wait there. I caught up with my Manager and asked him what had happened. He explained, "Oh that was just the fire alarm that went off. We're not yet sure if it is a drill or if we should be watching out for flames engulfing the building." Right. Just when my sleepy-shocked brain had caught up with the courage to own my foolery, an old gentleman in a bright orange apron with bigger and bolder "FIRE WARDEN" words scrawled across the chest approached the group. "Ok folks", he said, "that was our quarterly fire drill". Then he went on to tell us how long it had taken everyone to evacuate the building and congratulated us for cooperating so well. The drama was over and we returned back to to our seats. When we reached upstairs again, I gave the red button an incriminating look. Pointing to the little bugger, I asked the Admin lady what the harmless looking red button was. "Oh that!", she said dismissively, "Its the old button for opening the main door for visitors. Now, we have to use a code on the telephone, so anyone can do it even if I'm not around. I'm not even sure this red button works any more".
Right!