Newness for a New Year

Thursday, September 27, 2007

Emergency Exit Only, Alarm Will Sound

I am sure that we have all walked by doors that have just such a warning written in large red letters, and perhaps we have even wanted to push open the door just to see what would happen. I know I have always been tempted, just a little, to see if the alarm would really sound. Of course, my sense of societal norms and my respect for unwritten laws of such things always override my temptations. Well, today, I saw what would happen if the doors were pushed open ...

Nothing.
Not a sound.
Barely a notice by other people.

I was on my way to teach and I noticed a student push right through the double glass doors. I waited to hear that loud warning of fire, but nothing happened. I stopped to wait, but still nothing. I was amazed that the boy didn't even hesitate ... could he not have known what he had just done. But, obviously it didn't matter. The door hung open a bit, but I couldn't bring myself to walk through it after the boy who had made it through unscathed.

Although I saw that nothing happened, I will continue to suppress that need to pull the alarm or walk through the door. But, now I will always wonder about the nothing.

4 comments:

Erin said...

I have done that exact thing, accidentally of course. It wasn't until after I walked through that I noticed it was an emergency exit. I think that you have to leave the door open for a certain number of seconds for the alarm to go off. So emergency exit away.

Breanne Grover said...

That is good to know, mostly because I was wondering about the efficiency of such a system, if it doesn't really go off.

Alisa said...

Some doors like that I think may be on a silent alarm. It may go off somewhere else.

Spencer G said...

Lovely post.