Fire Alarm Testing

So, we got new fire alarms n' such in our office back in January.

Last week, they tested those alarms.

It was memorable. Some of the units didn't work, so they had to re-test. Some of the units that worked at first broke along the way, so there were more re-tests. It wound up lasting two days.

Every time the buzzers sounded, the one right by my head worked like a champ. I have absolute confidence that in the event of a real fire, I will instantly be reduced to a nauseated dizzy jibbering drooling cursing puddle of nerd. Then I will burn.

Amazingly, it was worse in the stairwell. Obviously that's a confined area, but I really think the buzzer was louder. It was nearly enough to liquefy my bowels. I have to imagine that in a real emergency, the bodies would pile up pretty quickly from all the folks who slip or get knocked over by violent sound waves.

By the end of the first day, I would jump and cry every time my phone rang.

The second day, SWoAN went up to the forklift / heavy machinery floor and got us all some industrial-strength earplugs. Those things were awesome. I worked in a cone of silence for hours at a time. Of course, every time I took them out the alarms would sound. Just my luck.

The nice part was that while the earplugs were in, I couldn't hear my phone. I'm going to leave them in.