Shouting "movie!" in a crowded firehouse

Fire Drill!

Today we had a fire drill. It was great. Just after I finished my first fund the lights started going off. A few seconds later the alarm sounded.

The office got up quietly, and proceded to the stairwell. We walked down fourteen flights, joined by the employees who work on the twelfth, thirteenth, fifteenth, sixteenth, and seventeenth floors. There was a bit of a hold up near the fourt floor but, in the end, everyone made it out alive.

Also, as we were exiting the building past the watchful eyes of the fire wardens, everyone was handed a bottle of water. Whether it was to douse the flames that might have ignited our business casual attire on the way down, or to keep us hydrated while we stood outside in the sun waiting for the all clear, it doesn't matter: We never got water at the old place.

In fact, this was the nicest fire drill I've ever participated in. The stairwells were well-lit; they were very roomy (not once did I bump shoulders with anyone walking two abreast down the fourteen flights); and they were clean, except for the remnant from what might possibly have been about a gallon of blood on the twelvth floor landing, but I'm totally willing to overlook that, because if it was, in fact, mopped-up blood, it was definitely old mopped-up blood, so I think it's safe to assume there hasn't been any trouble on the twelfth floor for at least a little while now.

It's cool. I don't go down to the twelfth floor anyway.

We spent about half an hour out in the park at Post Office Square which was our designated gathering spot. The fire wardens showed up about fifteen minutes later to check everyone's name off of a master list.

My name was not on the list (due, no doubt, to the newness of my employment), but I'm not worried. I'm sure they wouldn't need a list to figure out I was missing, someone would climb valiantly back up those fourteen flights to get me. Right?

So we enjoyed the sun, we enjoyed our free bottled water, we enjoyed not working for about an hour. Then, when the all-clear was announced rather than enjoy a massive press of bodies trying to fit through the bottle-neck at the revolving doors and the hour-long wait for an elevator, a bunch of us enjoyed iced coffee instead.

Certainly one of the best fire drills ever.

I am looking forward to the next one.

-t

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Bob Schneider, Orlando