AIBU to think customers’ behaviour about evacuating in the heavy rain was childish

You’re ‘guessing’ they were on the ‘older side’, or they were?

YABU for the ageist comment.

I think at any age I'd be somewhat annoyed if I had to evacuate a shop for a drill,

I am a little puzzled as to how people seem to be able to instantly know it is a drill ? Where did they learn, and where can I learn (if it's possible at my age ?).

ChatGPT has just said that most people are so fucking stupid that if they can;t see a fire when they hear a fire alarm they assume it's a drill. I'm guessing that's because it's developed a very low opinion of human intelligence ?

Fire is funny, until it isn't. My fireman friend (who I recently remembered on a thread about RTAs) had an exercise when he was training. It was "Guess how many corpses are in this photo of a fire". No one got it right.

Wouldn’t the rain have put the fire out?

Thanks to AI/google...

There were no fatalities due to lightning in 2025 in the UK.

There were 12 fire-related fatalities in non-domestic settings in 2025 in the UK.

Oh, and lightning travels up from the earth and not down from the sky. 🤯

I am the nemesis of a well known TV chef whose gastropub hotel decided to pea shingle the car park making the fire assembly point inaccessible for wheelchairs.

I emailed the local fire brigade on the Sunday checking out (didn't want to spoil the wedding) - apparently they were there next morning and served a closure notice.

Weirdly, when I pointed it out to the manager Friday evening "No one had complained."

Maybe some older people were moaning. Now that you mentioned the age, to offer a real balanced judgement, I need more data to analyse. The older people were above 70 or around 60, were the frail or sturdy? All these would tell me that it’s worth showing some understanding towards them or not.

Falling is dangerous for older people. Many old people are mobile but do not have the agility and strength of younger people. So you can show some empathy that they showed their inconvenience given everything is a massive efforts after certain age. So what they moaned a little? Unless they refuse to leave at all.

I think at any age I'd be somewhat annoyed if I had to evacuate a shop for a drill, especially if I had a limited window for shopping or had already picked up a lot of things. If you know for certain that it's only a drill, of course it's frustratingly inconvenient, especially if you end up waiting around in a thunderstorm or heavy rain.

I did once, quite a while ago.

To a shop similar to a B&M or Home Bargains.

Admittedly I did have v close ties to the local Fire Brigade (through work) and Mike, bless him, went - in his uniform and official FB van - to the shop within the hour and closed it down.
They'd blocked fire exits, and he found there were also faults with their alarm and extinguishers.

In the same way that they'd be happy to deal with your remains if struck by lightning I guess.

I had to go out in a thunderstorm last week as I had an appointment, and I was surprised by the number of people walking along with their umbrellas up!

Yes we are just bashing old people for fun.

Have you read any of the posts at all? They’re quite interesting.

Eventually you get writers cramp.

If it’s not then you need to write ‘older side’. There was no need to make reference to the age of moaners.

Exactly. You weren’t sure they were old ?
Just an old age bashing thread. Not nice.

PUWER 1998 (Provision and Use of Work Equipment) Is what they have to follow. If you feel a shopping centre or similar public place isn’t, complain.

You have to cancel out instinct. And stupidity masquerading as instinct.

People generally remember how they got into a building. So when they panic, the instinct is to leave that way. Even if you have to pass 100 fire exits on the way.

Also space layout - intended to allow a lot of people to slowly move around without congestion - needs to also accommodate a crush. Separating an exit spaces into subspaces (eg. 2 single doors with a wall as opposed to a single double exit) can help too.

My employer felt if they were paying for me to go on a fire marshal jolly (it is tremendous fun setting off all the different extinguishers) then I should learn from it.

Little tip: if you are ever in a data centre and the fire alarm goes off you really need to exit PDQ. You really do not want to be caught in a halon storm.

Yes OP, the older generation are a fucking waste of space. Although I guess they maybe had some use at some point in time? Who knows, it's all a bit of a mystery. Anyway, do I get top marks for the right answer?

I'm getting on a bit, and but in the extremely unlikely event that I drop dead in a coffee shop I really wouldn't mind if others finished their coffee (and cake, if applicable). I mean, I'd be dead. so it wouldn't bother me in the slightest.

It's pretty unlikely though, as I never go out for coffee.

I’m reminded of the fire drill in Fawlty Towers, with Basil shouting at the two elderly guests to evacuate ( “Rouse! Rouse!).

Nobody acknowledges that having too many fire drills causes “the boy who cries wolf” attitudes in people

I’ve never been involved in a fire drill while out in a public place. It’s not like shoppers are constantly having to evacuate for drills.

100% this. People are dicks.

“it won’t happen to me”

”don’t tell me what to do, I paid £5 for this coffee”

”but I need milk and bread!”

And they don’t consider that staff are putting their own lives at risk by having to spend time trying to get these people to just move!

Yes, part of fire safety training is learning about behavioural factors like this.
As in many such dangerous situations, those people who can think the unthinkable are the ones with the best chance of survival.

It doesn’t surprise me at all. The shop I work in floods constantly now, usually we can stay open while cordoning off the worst of it but a few weeks ago we had to close for several hours. We explained to people trying to come in and while most of them simply moved on with their day, a surprising number got really angry and demanded entry or started shouting or both. All of the stroppy ones were elderly or at least in their 70s. I think maybe it’s because many older people are creatures of habit so feel a bit lost when their routine is out of whack (a lot of them come in every day or have set days they shop with us).

That's before you get into the regular inspection and maintenance. Bad enough in a controlled environment like an office, almost impossible in a public space like a shopping centre.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c04xx7wkg4xo

Wasn't there a fire in a Woolworths many years ago that was studied for this phenomenon- I think a number of people died, and even as staff evacuated customers were refusing to leave the cafeteria and were queuing at abandoned checkouts.
I believe a number of these customers were amongst the dead.
One issue I think is that people might think they won't be affected until the fire reaches them, completely underestimating the effect of heat and smoke.