Ahhhh - FIRE!!

When I hear “fire drill,” I think of two things. 1) The “Chinese” variety we did in high school when everyone in the car would jump out and run around it at a red light. 2) Elementary school. Now, I know that I’ve been in fire drills since then, but those times stick out (well, and the one time some yahoo at the MTC thought it would be funny to pull the alarm just before it was lights out – burn in Hades whoever you are!).

Here at Gateway Office Tower 2, we take safety seriously. Everyone has a 72 hr kit at their desk, emergency contact into on their person, etc. A few weeks ago, we had a “walk through” where we learned how and where to evacuate to. And a warning – sometime in June there will be a surprise drill. Oh goodie!

Well, sometime ended up being last week. But even better . . . I was in the exercise center just down from my desk when this happened. So, there I am all gross from exercising, in my ever so attractive gym wear when the alarm sounds. Great. I get to quickly grab my badge (so I can get through the locked door back to my office), meet my office team, and head out to the Grand Hall at the Union Pacific Depot where the entire building is meeting. That’s a lot of people – about 6 floors worth. They’re all in their business casual attire. I’m in gym clothes. I felt like someone should be singing the Sesame Street "One of these things is not like the other" tune. The nice secretary came up to me and said, "Brian, I'm pretty sure it's not casual Friday."

The best part was the I was almost done with my exercise routine. This means that I was about . . . maybe 3 minutes from being in the shower. And let me tell you, I would not have evacuated in the buff - or even a towel for that matter. The fire would have had to wait for me to finish my shower, dry off, and get dressed before it killed me. Luckily there was no fire. But, I'm sure that me taking the time to wash and dress would have been detrimental to the overall time it took for the building to clear out.

So, for any fire out there planning my death, I guess the best time to get me would be while I'm showering. I'd rather die than be seen in public in any form of undress. (Well, I just cleared exhibitionist from my possible life route -- so I guess there was some benefit in this experience.)