The building I work in is downtown in a metropolitan area and is old and has its charm and rickety nature. They've been doing construction recently that keeps setting off the fire alarm to the point that we joke that if a real alarm hit we'd all die because no one would bat a lash. Recently the water main went tits up and they've been doing construction on it and redirecting the flow of traffic for about three weeks now.
Today the construction crew decided to get inventive. They thought (or so I surmise) that jackhammering into a gas main would be fun for all. Imagine our surprise to suddenly hear a horrifically loud wooshing sound, the smell of rotten eggs, and to have people running around screeching about a gas leak just before the alarm went off.
Our whole building (and several other large buildings nearby) were evacuated a few blocks away to sit for two hours while the fire department and city utility crews fixed things. Now, I sat near to the spot that we were not supposed to cross because there was a planter I could sit on. I have a bad back and couldn't keep standing for long. At the very edge of the street sat all the guys from a little lunch shop nearby... and several of them proceeded to smoke on the bare edge of where the fire department had pushed us to.
I don't know about you, but who on earth thinks it is wise to smoke during a gas leak? Especially one that has shut off several blocks downtown? Argh!
Oh, and best of all... not long after a police officer joined the fireman that was redirecting traffic even closer to the leak and sat there on his motorcycle and lit up. *headdesk*
Today the construction crew decided to get inventive. They thought (or so I surmise) that jackhammering into a gas main would be fun for all. Imagine our surprise to suddenly hear a horrifically loud wooshing sound, the smell of rotten eggs, and to have people running around screeching about a gas leak just before the alarm went off.
Our whole building (and several other large buildings nearby) were evacuated a few blocks away to sit for two hours while the fire department and city utility crews fixed things. Now, I sat near to the spot that we were not supposed to cross because there was a planter I could sit on. I have a bad back and couldn't keep standing for long. At the very edge of the street sat all the guys from a little lunch shop nearby... and several of them proceeded to smoke on the bare edge of where the fire department had pushed us to.
I don't know about you, but who on earth thinks it is wise to smoke during a gas leak? Especially one that has shut off several blocks downtown? Argh!
Oh, and best of all... not long after a police officer joined the fireman that was redirecting traffic even closer to the leak and sat there on his motorcycle and lit up. *headdesk*
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