It's a fire alarm! At a petrol station! Run away!

[AccountingDrone]

Then said GM has no idea how to be one. It's the GM's job to tell the story, not dictate what the players can or can't do. There are so many ways that could have played out. He just didn't want to acknowledge them.

Heck if a game has mechanics in to allow for dwarf bowling (yes, it does, and yes, we've tried them, with a battlerager no less) then this is easy to deal with.

I always loved GMing ... some of the improbably odd stories of how something happened thanks to the roll of the dice was my favorite thing. My favorite subthread involved keeping my husbands dwarf in the game somehow while he was out to sea ... we decided that a medusa he had captured on contract turned him into stone, and we were schlepping him along until we could get somewhere to get him unstoned ... and making the odd gold on the side displaying him as a tourist attraction whenever he had to deploy for a few weeks. Unfortunately every time we got him unstoned, the medusa would get lose and stone him again. He played grumpy that he never got a cut of the gold we made displaying him =)

[BookstoreEscapee]

the alarm was actually a monthly test gone wrong that we couldn't turn off.

That happened to us once when I was working at Store1. We actually asked the customers to leave, though we let them make purchases first if they wanted to (since there was not actually an emergency). Guess who got to stay at the register with the alarm screaming in the ceiling right behind her head until all the customers finished paying.

Guess whose coworkers all went outside to escape the noise...so I had to stay there that much longer because no one had the decency to help me with the line.

Guess who has had ear problems most of her life, has had tinnitus for 20 years, and is somewhat sensitive to high-pitched noises.

Yeah.

Oh, and of course there was one customer who bitched about her baby's delicate ears while she paid for her stuff. Seriously, if you're so concerned, leave. You can come back and buy stuff later.

[mattm04]

Last time the alarm went off was when someone somehow lit the microwave on fire, looong story. Anyway after yelling at SC's to leave or having them ask "so are we supposed to leave", um, YES!!! GO! NOOOOOW! everyone is finally out. While we are waiting for the FD to clear the store, SC keep trying to walk in despite a fire truck at one entrance FD SUV at the other and a ladder truck in the middle, two police cars all with lights flashing. Not even "FIRE LINE - DO NOT CROSS" tape stopped some SC's, who were very quickly screamed at by angry FF's after so many disregarded the warnings. One almost got arrested. How important can groceries be?

[morgana]

I've said it before, I'll say it again: If I hear a fire alarm, don't get in my way. You'll have footprints on your back. And if management wants me to stay and try to herd out a bunch of idiots who won't leave? Management can kiss my fat white fanny.

Been in a building fire. Me on ninth floor, fire on fifth floor. Black smoke, walls hot to the touch, the whole routine. If the farkwits want to roll dice with Darwin, I'll let 'em. This girl's out the door.

If it's later proved to be a false alarm, so be it. I won't be taking the chance.

[Beckduer]

If the farkwits want to roll dice with Darwin, I'll let 'em. This girl's out the door.

If it's later proved to be a false alarm, so be it. I won't be taking the chance.

I'll race you!

[jackfaire]

*SC wanders past the fire truck and the caution tape enters the store* "You all open?"

"Yes we are having a fire sale!"

[Seshat]

And if they're going to ignore an ambulance right across the street from their homes, they aren't going to pay much attention to a fire alarm.

If there's an ambulance, and the ambos seem active, then whatever is going on is being handled and me being present would be hindrance, not help.

I'll act if there's NOT an ambulance present; but once they are, the most I'm likely to do is use my mobility scooter to run over the feet of any gawkers who are in their way.

That's a metaphor. Probably.

[lordlundar]

*SC wanders past the fire truck and the caution tape enters the store* "You all open?"

"Yes we are having a fire sale!"

Something pretty close to that occurred in Toronto on Boxing day.

[Iced Coffee Man]

If there really was a fire, and I worked there, I'd just leave the idiots to it and leg it out the door. -.-

One of our old store managers also advised us to do this, it was fucking funny.

[Seshat]

Something pretty close to that occurred in Toronto on Boxing day.

Definitely time to run over some peoples' feet.


One thing that always worries me about fire stairs - they're STAIRS. How the heck do people like me get down out of a building?

[cinema guy]

One thing that always worries me about fire stairs - they're STAIRS. How the heck do people like me get down out of a building?

Sadly you don't. Anyone not able to leave the cinema in the event of a fire has to be left behind. The fire brigade are told of your presence. The doors are supposedly fire resistant for 30 minutes - enough time fore you to be rescued by trained professionals.

[KabeRinnaul]

How important can groceries be?

That sort of thinking actually gave me the idea for a story. That and a bit of Clerks. It was late spring/early summer, and in the middle of a massive downpour. I was a bagger, and after being sent out to run carts for half an hour, I went ahead and volunteered to do all the other cart shifts that day, on the grounds that I couldn't possibly get any wetter. There were small rivers flowing across the parking lot, and water 4-5 inches deep in places.

Remember, I'm from West Virginia. What the rest of the region calls a "drought", we call "surprisingly few floods".

Anyway, it was also one of our busiest days that month. For some absurd reason. I nearly wrecked twice driving home thanks to the water on the road, but we didn't have a single moment's rest that day. And the thing that stuck out with me was the ham steaks. For some reason, it seemed like every person I saw checking out that day was buying a ham steak or three from the meat shop. It eventually became something of a short-lived meme with my friends.

But so, the story idea it gave me, roughly: Protagonist is a retail clerk/bagger, and dutifully shows up every day regardless, until it is discovered that The End Of The World As We Know It is fast approaching. The fate of the world is common knowledge, and Protagonist, deciding that he's doomed anyway, quits bothering to show up for work. Of course, he's called, asked where he is, and written up for NCNS. Fortunately, a Plot Device emerges that will allow Protagonist and a couple of his friends to Save The World somehow. Upon completion of his quest, he winds up returning to his menial job, and is greeted with nothing but an order to make up for his missed days. And so he regrets saving the world and all of it's soulless banality.

Might be my NaNoWriMo next year... Or just a random project when I find the time...

[lordlundar]

Sadly you don't. Anyone not able to leave the cinema in the event of a fire has to be left behind. The fire brigade are told of your presence. The doors are supposedly fire resistant for 30 minutes - enough time fore you to be rescued by trained professionals.

Wow, and to think the local multiplex has a 1.5 story flamethrower. Sure is a comforting thought.

[Geek King]

One thing that always worries me about fire stairs - they're STAIRS. How the heck do people like me get down out of a building?

Or people like me who can carry you down so long as you're willing to suffer the indignety of a piggyback ride. I had to do that once when the alarms went off in my past workplace, and the people who were trained to help our wheelchair-bound programmer panicked and left him by the stairwell door. Another tester helped me balence while we made our way down. Oddly, he didn't mind.

[Broomjockey]

How the heck do people like me get down out of a building?

I know it's been answered, but I figure throwing it in reinforces that it's not a rare procedure. I've always been told "note the location, tell the professionals." If it was ultra-time-critical, and the person consented, I'd offer a carry, but...