Fire alams, part 2

Ok, so remember our fire alarm a few weeks ago at work?  We have had quite a few alarms go off lately.  Most are for testing the system, I think in large part, due to some construction being done on the first floor of the building.  Quite often, they will send an email to me to pass on to all employees regarding an upcoming drill, and that we can simply, ignore the alarms, unless told to leave by someone in charge.  (The latest of which, is occuring today, and we aren’t there on Saturday, so I’m ok with that!)  Well, about a week ago, the alarms started going off, and there had been no recent memo and I quickly grabbed my purse (which was by my feet) and people looked at me that were milling around by the lobby, asking ME if this was a drill.. and I said, not that I’m aware of, I’m outta here!  To which, we all headed for the stairs.  So, this would be the 2nd time inside of a month, that the alarm appears to be the real deal.  After everyone is outside, and the property manager makes sure everyone is of adequate distance from the building, they let us back in.  No fire trucks to be seen.  This was a DRILL, but not for the system, but for us, much like they do in schools, to see how well the people will respond if it were the real thing.  The nice thing was, they gave us ice cream at the elevator when we came back in!  At the end of the day, our top boss sends an email, basically saying, she knows we’ve had a lot of drills, but we all need to be more wary of the alarms and get out faster and not hang around waiting to find out if it is a real alarm or a test.  I agree- the last real alarm, complete with fire trucks, I was hanging around for at least 15 minutes before I finally left, after being told to get out.  After that, I said, I will be the first one out from now on!