Tuesday, October 26, 2004

Fire Alarm, Anyone?

So, for the second time this year, my Psychology of Language class was interrupted by a fire alarm. Generally, there are two reasons for a fire alarm going off at UBC.

1. There's a fire. (doesn't happen often, except in the chemistry building)
2. Someone has an exam they want canceled, and they think pulling a fire alarm is a good way to make that happen.

The first time the alarm went off, it was the third day of class. The third day. No one has an exam on the third day of class! The third day there are still some profs going through the syllabus. My prof was so confused by the fire alarm that we all stayed in the room for a few minutes while he was deciding what to do. Luckily it was pretty nice out, so I ran into friends outside and we chatted.

Now, pulling a fire alarm today would theoretically have made more sense. After all, this is high midterm season. But (and you know there's always a but) whoever pulled it did it 15 minutes before class ended. I don't understand this at all. Say you pulled it during your midterm. Clearly, you weren't in class at the time. Do you really think, that after an entire class has been writing their midterm for over an hour, your professor is going to 'cancel' the midterm because of 15 minutes? They'll scale it, numbskull. Alternatively, let's assume that the miscreant pulled the fire alarm before he was to write the exam. Half an hour is plenty of time for the fire department to sweep the building and deactivate the alarm, buddy. As was shown today, when everyone's 3:30 pm class went ahead as scheduled. Honestly, if you were just smarter, you'd know when to pull the fire alarm. Of course, you possibly would be smart enough to just write the exam too.

I actually find it interesting when a fire alarm goes off. Considering what fire alarms are supposed to be warning us of (ie. a blazing inferno of death), the general reaction is remarkably apathetic (again, except in the chemistry building. There, a fire alarm goes off and people are bodysurfing down the stairs to avoid the toxic death that would result form a fire in a building full of poisons that go boom in especially colourful ways). What do you think when you hear a fire alarm? Long gone are the days when I think 'Fire!'. I don't even remember those days. Now, I think 'God, I hope it isn't raining', and 'did you ever think about studying? Just a thought'.

And fire alarms are actually the more innocuous illegal method of exam-avoidance I've seen. At the end of one of my chemistry finals in second year, we were all confronted by police officers with a tape recorder, asking us to identify a (modulated) voice on a recording that had placed a bomb threat on our exact room at the exact time of the exam. While we did not in fact blow up, I find it not terribly reassuring that they didn't tell us of the threat until afterward. Of course, it may have had to do with the phrasing of the threat, which was so remarkably stupid that I still remember it;

"Hi,...I'm calling to say...the people in Chem 150 on Tuesday the 17th at 3 pm had better watch it...or else they'll blow sky high...while I watch them from upstairs...(click)"

I'm sorry, he was going to 'blow me sky high' while he was watching upstairs? And this guy was in a chemistry class? Did he not want to write the final because he was now invincible?

How is it, that when it's so hard to get into university, so many idiots are here?

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Yeah, what was up with that fire alarm? I have also stopped thinking "fire" when I hear a fire alarm. That's not a good thing. What is a good thing: me laughing hysterically at the "body-surfing" imagery. Because of the way you placed it, not because thinking of people running for their lives is funny. Well, not in a real-life context, anyway.
-Anna

Christina Martin said...

There's a third (and likely) reason for alarm pulling: someone got started partying a bit early in the day and thought they were being uproariously clever and funny.

He also thinks it's very witty when he talks too loud.

J-Bird said...

Yeah, I'd forgotten about the stupid drunk people. Ech.