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Please Practice Your Candidacy for a Darwin Award ELSEWHERE!

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  • Please Practice Your Candidacy for a Darwin Award ELSEWHERE!

    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*
    "Oh, the strawberries don't taste as they used to and the thighs of women have lost their clutch!"

  • #2
    Proof that 50% of all professionals -- including police -- graduated in the bottom half of their class ...

    It'd be nice to think he got a serious blast from somebody above him soon afterwards.

    And did anybody go tell the guys from the lunch shop to butt out??

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    • #3
      I only wish this were uncommon. Last year our building had a leak (phone company hit the gas line in front of the building) and we evacuated to our sister company across the parking lot. First thing a handful of workers do? Light up outside the 2nd building, even while folks are still being evacuated. I might add, this is before a crew arrived and we knew the full extent of the leak.
      A lion however, will only devour your corpse, whereas an SC is not sated until they have destroyed your soul. (Quote per infinitemonkies)

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      • #4
        *nods* A similar thing happened once at Huge Insurance Company and our two tower blocks were evacuated. There's the happy band of smokers, puffing away at the bottom of the slope, when the fire chief arrived.

        Have you ever seen a man's face go actually INDIGO with fury?
        Engaged to the sweet Mytical He is my Black Dragon (and yes, a good one) strong, protective, the guardian. I am his Silver Dragon, always by his side, shining for him, cherishing him.

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        • #5
          Quoth Pixilated View Post
          Proof that 50% of all professionals -- including police -- graduated in the bottom half of their class ...
          Love that

          But did you also know that 37% of all statistics are made up


          Sorry, couldn't resist

          Madness takes it's toll....
          Please have exact change ready.

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          • #6
            Quoth Merriweather View Post
            But did you also know that 37.5% of all statistics are made up
            That's the Law of Three Ates: Will they swallow this one?
            I am not an a**hole. I am a hemorrhoid. I irritate a**holes!
            Procrastination: Forward planning to insure there is something to do tomorrow.
            Derails threads faster than a pocket nuke.

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            • #7
              We had a pretty bad series of grassfires here awhile back...they evacuated the c-store i was employed at. When we got the go ahead to come back, there were customers in the store!

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              • #8
                Quoth Pixilated View Post
                And did anybody go tell the guys from the lunch shop to butt out??
                No, no one did. We were a ways down the block from them but close enough to see it. That and the fact that there was a cop at the same intersection smoking as well made it kinda hard to go point out their little flaw.
                "Oh, the strawberries don't taste as they used to and the thighs of women have lost their clutch!"

                Comment


                • #9
                  i'm thinking the navy found this out the hard way. they have an escape device called an EEBD - emergency escape breathing device. It's a plastic hood you toss on that has an O2-generating device on it... so you can get from your work center or your rack to the outdoors without smoke inhalation damage.

                  The warnings on it advise that you do not light up a cigarette for 15 minutes after you use it. Cos hey that's what everyone does right? Get outside and light up.

                  Although it could serve as a warning to not fight the fire right away too but... it really did specify cigarettes.


                  i'm just wondering who was the screaming alpha that learned this one the hard way?

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                  • #10
                    Quoth PepperElf View Post
                    has an O2-generating device on it...
                    do not light up a cigarette for 15 minutes after you use it
                    Must admit it took me a second or two to figure this one out. uh, yeah, oxygen and fire don't mix.

                    Quoth PepperElf View Post
                    i'm just wondering who was the screaming alpha that learned this one the hard way?
                    Love this.

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                    • #11
                      Quoth sms001 View Post
                      Must admit it took me a second or two to figure this one out. uh, yeah, oxygen and fire don't mix.
                      Or rather, they mix too well, in a quick, warm and colorful way!

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                      • #12
                        Quoth PepperElf View Post
                        i'm thinking the navy found this out the hard way. they have an escape device called an EEBD - emergency escape breathing device. It's a plastic hood you toss on that has an O2-generating device on it... so you can get from your work center or your rack to the outdoors without smoke inhalation damage.

                        The warnings on it advise that you do not light up a cigarette for 15 minutes after you use it. Cos hey that's what everyone does right? Get outside and light up.

                        Although it could serve as a warning to not fight the fire right away too but... it really did specify cigarettes.


                        i'm just wondering who was the screaming alpha that learned this one the hard way?
                        Might not have been one. It's well known that pure oxygen saturates cloth; when lit it burns very quickly. That's why smoking in hospitals is now verboten, not just because the spark can start a flash in the smokers face, but if the cannula has been lying in the bed any (it often does) the pillow and bedding get saturated and are actually the greatest danger in case of a fire.
                        They say that God only gives us what we can handle. Apparently, God thinks I'm a bad ass.

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                        • #13
                          Alte Kackers, canst du remember Apollo 1? 01/27/1967

                          My mother's cousin-in-law had been an astronaut for 10 months. He finally flew 04/29/85, after 19 years.
                          I am not an a**hole. I am a hemorrhoid. I irritate a**holes!
                          Procrastination: Forward planning to insure there is something to do tomorrow.
                          Derails threads faster than a pocket nuke.

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            Quoth Heksubah View Post
                            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*
                            I hate to say it, but I think I can top this. When I worked at FedEx, we paid a third party to fuel our equipment. This included everything from Semis, to Tugs to Air craft. When he came into the the office at the end of the night to get receipts signed, he reeked of fuel. They used to catch him out on the tarmac smoking in his truck. And this includes the truck that pumps Jet A.

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                            • #15
                              My old place beats it. There were two designated smoking areas; one for visitors, on a nice outdoor patio some 30-40 feet from the entrance.

                              And one for employees, near the loading dock... which was sited RIGHT NEXT TO A FRIGGIN HUGE OXYGEN TANK.

                              They changed the policy since so there was no smoking allowed on premises (though visitors smoking right outside the door were conveniently "ignored"), but still... sheesh.
                              A theory states that if anyone discovers exactly what the Universe is for, it will be replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplicable.

                              Another theory states that this has already happened.

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