Fire drills

Whoever came up with the idea for fire drills must have been a masochist! Before you go off on me, I know they serve a good purpose. Trust me, I know this and am not trying to disparage fire or safety personnel. Having said that, please allow me this one tirade?

It's cold in the morning, folks. It's winter and it's more than a little nippy outside, get my drift? Oh dear, no pun intended. Anyway, we had a drill this morning and we're standing outside, in the open air without coverage for like 20 minutes! Thank God I grabbed my coat. I left the purse and my steaming cup of freshly made tea. I was so upset about the latter.

Of course, the last fire drill we had employees carrying coffee cups, books, cell phones, and a blow dryer (yes, you've read correctly, one person had a blow dryer!). They were chastised and a global email was dispatched admonishing us about the importance of the drills and evacuating immediately. It seems several employees were congregating in the hallways chatting.

I guess, corporate is intent on torturing us until we get it right. I'm afraid they have more educating to do. This time some employees were caught hiding in the ladies room and one employee exited without shoes. Don't know, I didn't ask! How one can go to work and exit an emergency drill without shoes is well, beyond me. I don't even want to guess what she was doing when the alarm sounded!