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In which a fire alarm is cause for doubting my self-worth

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  • In which a fire alarm is cause for doubting my self-worth

    Last night sucked hard. As in, a chrome-off-a-bumper degree of suck.

    It began around two in the morning when someone pulled in, declined the last room I had left, and left. Unfortunately in leaving, they dragged the trailer they were hauling down the side of another guest's car.

    Their rental car, which was dented so badly that the driver's side door could not be opened.

    For which they did not have insurance valid in this state.

    And which they drove to town and stayed at my hotel so they could attend a funeral.

    I have a brand-new security guard, and while he's nice to look at, he's still learning so he had no idea what to do and neither did I. This necessitated a call to another auditor who's been with the company nigh on twenty years, who walked me through what to do. The police were called. The guest was called. The guest and the police went through their little dance, and the guest ended up getting probably two or three hours of sleep at most before she had to be up.

    It was good that she got what sleep she did though, because at just past six-thirty in the morning, the fire alarm went off.

    Why did it go off? Because someone burned their toast in the breakfast area. I did not know this, though, and because this was my first fire alarm I had no idea what to do. The breakfast attendant figured out what the problem was, but meanwhile, I'm dealing with call after call after call after call after call after call after call after call to the front desk from guests asking what's going on. I herd them to the lobby.

    I call the incoming assistant manager, who calls the general manager, who calls me, miraculously gets through, and directs me through silencing the alarm after about fifteen minutes of continuous blaring. During this time, I've also called the fire department. The breakfast attendant had told me it was burnt toast and told me I'd have to call the fire department to reset the alarm. It obviously wasn't a real emergency, so I asked him if he had the number to the fire department, but he looked at me as though I'd just asked permission to put my finger in his nose and told me to call 911.

    I called 911. Upon silencing the alarm, I called them back to ask them to cancel that order for a firetruck (with extra mushrooms, and sauce on the side), but the fire truck was pulling up outside and a very nice female firefighter came in and reset the alarm, and also informed me that herding guests to the lobby won't cut it next time. They have to head out to the dumpster or else we'll get a ticket.

    So. All was quiet. People went back to their rooms. Other people figured that since they were up anyway, they might as well have breakfast. All was well.

    Then one person came up to complain about the inconvenience of the fire alarm. He got our "Please Steal From Us" Guarantee. Then another person came up for the same reason. And a third.

    By this time, it was after seven and my shift was over, but I was staying over an hour until management got in so I could tell her what happened. Just before I left -- my very last encounter with a guest before I got to go home -- a guy came up to inform me in a snotty tone that he used to work in a hotel and that fire alarm went on way too long.

    "It's easy to turn it off," he said, "You just find out what zone it's in and shut it off. That alarm went on too long and you inconvenienced everybody."

    And then he huffed off.

    Here's the thing. Up to that point, I was feeling pretty good. Yes, it was a mess, but I dealt with it as best I knew how, and I thought I'd done an okay job. People in the lobby were laughing together about a shared experience, and everyone seemed happy that no one was hurt and it was nothing serious. Also, lest we forget, the alarm went off because the smoke detector did exactly what it is designed to do, and detected smoke.

    However, because of that one person -- that last person, may I remind you -- I have felt like a complete idiot all day long. That was not helped when I came in tonight to find fire and emergency procedures posted on the bulletin board, and my asshole boss only too happy to point out that those procedures are in the employee handbook, and that I had to have signed that I read them eight months ago when I was hired.

    Tonight I did not hold my tongue. I told him, "Telling someone something once, briefly, eight months ago, is not imparting knowledge. It is only imparting the fact that there is knowledge."

    He was unfazed, and put on that stupid hat of his and left. And I've been fuming and consumed by doubt ever since. Should I really have known what to do from one training session eight months ago? Would you? It really makes me feel stupid, and I hate, hate, hate feeling stupid.
    123
    You failed your hotel as an auditor and yourself as a man.
    1.63%
    2
    Meh. You did as well as could be expected.
    98.37%
    121
    Last edited by Antisocial_Worker; 03-08-2015, 07:18 AM.
    Drive it like it's a county car.

  • #2
    Your boss is awful. You are not. It is the job of management to communicate proper practices accurately, instead of just lazily flinging it near you. (....not unlike a lazy launch of a paper airplane, really.)

    I'd not fault you. And I hate hate hate fire alarm sounds (they hurt me a lot). That guy was flat wrong, and you are not stupid.
    1129. I will refrain from casting Dimension Jump and Magnificent Mansion on every police box we pass.
    -----
    http://orchidcolors.livejournal.com (A blog about everything and nothing)

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    • #3
      I don't blame you. Everyone has a hard time remembering things they don't use.
      The fact that jellyfish have survived for 650 million years despite not having brains gives hope to many people.

      You would have to be incredibly dense for the world to revolve around you.

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      • #4
        You did absolutely brilliant and shouldn't doubt yourself. It was just a bad situation all around. I think those who complained should have to do your job for a day too. And that last one... ugh.

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        • #5
          Yea, that last guy was talking out of his ass. I'd lay long odds that every word out of him was complete and utter fantasy, he was just getting off on being a dick.
          You're only delaying the inevitable, you run at your own expense. The repo man gets paid to chase you. ~Argabarga

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          • #6
            That last guy was a jerk.

            And really, fire and emergency procedures should probably be reviewed every six months at least, and I'm talking more of a hands-on walkthrough than just reading some text in a handbook. It's not something you deal with daily but as you discovered, when it comes up it helps to know what you're doing. Management should have given you the training you and Security guard needed (was he still around when the alarm went off? Our security guards have to be the ones to investigate and silence alarms at our place).

            On the bright side, now that you've gone through it once, the next time someone burns their toast you're now more familiar with the alarm system!
            Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.

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            • #7
              Quoth Antisocial_Worker View Post

              "It's easy to turn it off," he said, "You just find out what zone it's in and shut it off. That alarm went on too long and you inconvenienced everybody."
              I don't know about your system in your hotel but I know about the system in my store and I don't think that would work. We couldn't turn off a section if we wanted to if the fire department had to be the ones to reset it. Futhermore, if the fire department saw that we did do that the shit would hit the fan. There would be tickets, fines, and terminations of the person who did it. In short that guy is full of it. Don't listen to him. On a side note why weren't the emergency procedures already posted? Most businesses have to prove the fire marshal that they have a safety/escape plan by having it posted. Maybe they had a talk with your boss about it and that is why it is posted now. Even if you had done everything perfectly it wouldn't have changed the fact that safety plan wasn't posted.

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              • #8
                meanwhile, I'm dealing with call after call after call after call after call after call after call after call to the front desk from guests asking what's going on. I herd them to the lobby.
                I have officially been on this site for too long -- In no way did it surprise me that these people were calling down to the desk, rather than getting the hell out of the hotel upon hearing a fire alarm x.x

                As for the "former hotel worker" who whined about shutting the thing off -- I call dingo on that asshole. What he just described was shutting the alarm klaxon off without actually checking to see if there really was any danger, and possibly just silencing the alarm without really deactivating it. The Fire Dept probably would have had to come by anyway.

                Screw them, and I'd love to have a word with your boss. It's his job to make sure everyone knows basic emergency procedures, and that poster with the info on it should have been hanging on the wall from day one!!
                "For a musician, the SNES sound engine is like using Crayola Crayons. Nobuo Uematsu used Crayola Crayons to paint the Sistine Chapel." - Jeremy Jahns (re: "Dancing Mad")
                "The difference between an amateur and a master is that the master has failed way more times." - JoCat
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                "There's burning bridges, and then there's the lake just to fill it with gasoline." - Wiccy, reddit
                "Retail is a cruel master, and could very well be the most educational time of many people's lives, in its own twisted way." - me
                "Love keeps her in the air when she oughta fall down...tell you she's hurtin' 'fore she keens...makes her a home." - Capt. Malcolm Reynolds, "Serenity" (2005)
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                • #9
                  Quoth EricKei View Post
                  I have officially been on this site for too long -- In no way did it surprise me that these people were calling down to the desk, rather than getting the hell out of the hotel upon hearing a fire alarm x.x
                  We live in a world with too many false alarms. When was the last time you heard a car alarm and thought "Hey, someone is getting their car stolen!" rather than "I wish that dumbass would shut that off already!"?

                  I do wonder what those guests would have done if there really was a fire and the desk folk were busy trying to contain it until the fire department arrived. Would they have stayed in their rooms, hitting the redial button like rats waiting for a reward until the fire trapped them and they burned to death?
                  Sorry, my cow died so I don't need your bull

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                  • #10
                    I used to work at a hotel with over 10 floors, and every few months the fire alarms would sound. Something to do with dust on the sensors I guess, and nothing the hotel could do to prevent it. It always astounded me how people WOULD NOT evacuate, even though the alarm was sounding. Instead, you'd see people on the higher floors pulling back curtains to look outside at all the workers who HAD evacuated. Fortunately there was never a "real" fire in my time there.
                    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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                    • #11
                      I know how hard it is to get people to leave a building when the alarm goes off; especially in bad weather. What are you supposed to do if they won't cooperate? Maybe the fire department can fine them all separately!
                      "If anyone wants this old box containing the broken bits of my former faith in humanity, I'll take your best offer now. You may be able to salvage a few of em' for parts..... " - Quote by Argabarga

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                      • #12
                        When I worked at the cinema we had fire training every month. Failure to have it for three months in a row was grounds for suspension.

                        People tend to do nothing, or head towards the fire, apparently. They need instructions to leave through the fire exits and members of staff had to go into each auditorium and shout to tell people to leave via the fire exit.
                        "I can tell her you're all tied up in the projection room." Sunset Boulevard.

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                        • #13
                          Your boss is just this side of criminally negligent for not properly training you on emergency procedures and some ass who certainly isn't in any way a useful human being are beating up on you.

                          I think we can state with some certainty that the problem here isn't you.
                          Life: Reality TV for deities. - dalesys

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                          • #14
                            The one time the fire alarm went off in a hotel where I was staying, we did not evacuate the room. We could hear doors slamming and people running down the hall and stairs though. We were getting ready to leave when the alarm shut off.

                            We called down to the front desk to see what happened, and the desk clerk said a foreign guest (his words, not mine) pulled the fire alarm thinking it would open a door someplace.

                            I think you did all right.
                            Knowledge is power. Power corrupts. Study hard. Be evil.

                            "I never said I wasn't a horrible person."--Me, almost daily

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                            • #15
                              Quoth Aragarthiel View Post
                              I don't blame you. Everyone has a hard time remembering things they don't use.
                              Precisely. A monthly fire drill would've been better training than one memo eight months ago. And don't let that grouchy customer get you down. Grumps gonna grump.
                              I don't have an attitude problem. You have a perception problem.
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