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

[Loppp]

I visited my local supermarket this morning. It was dry at the time. The supermarket’s fire alarms were going off, when the thunder and lightning happened along with torrential downpours.

Some customers were being difficult to evacuate the store as it was raining! Guessing that from those who moaned at the staff and security were the older side.

How pathetic did these customers sounded?

The fire assembly point is not under cover.

Not surprised. We always had trouble at work getting the public out as they didnt want to miss their turn - they all had appointments and were seen in order once we got back in. And once out they'd congregate inches from the door and wouldn't move. We took advice from the fire brigade whi said all we needed to do was get them outside and then get ourselves to the safe point.

I agree. If they dont want to evacuate then enjoy being burnt!

So sick of people whining about procedures designed to save their selfish lives

Personally unless I can smell burning, I’d rather risk a fire than going outside in lightning!

Morrisons Supermarkets of course cook bread, roast chickens and fry things like chicken nuggets and potato wedges as well as having a cafe that serves breakfast and lunch. Above all the fryers they have something called an Ansul system which can contain liquid or gas depending on what it is above. The idea being that it can smother a fire before it takes hold. I have still been in store though when a fire alarm has gone off. Thankfully it was workmen trying to fix something that caused the smoke that triggered the alarm but because the alarm had gone off unexpectedly the store was evacuated. The number of customers that were standing there demanding that staff put their shopping through even though the fire alarm was going off was staggering.

I once had a woman lose it at me because we had a fire alarm go and there was no one to help her carry her buggy down the stairs and the lifts weren't working and she was losing it. I had to explain in case of emergency to leave the buggy behind and carry the baby down the stairs. (This was after the fact when it was all safe and we went back inside, if she had stopped me during the alarm I'd have helped her bring her baby down the stairs)

Less easy for a wheelchair user.

I have indeed been evacuated from a swimming pool when a fire alarm went off during a thunderstorm. I was already wet so it wasn’t too bad and they came round with the foil blankets etc.
But during today’s almost biblical thunderstorm with hail and heavy downpour here (Cambridge) it really would not have been safe to go outside for many people, especially some older people and children. The hail itself would have been very dangerous unless you were able to shelter under cover. Luckily I was at home.

Might be easy for you to nip across to the chemist.

For elderly or disabled people, just getting from their home to the car to the shop can feel like an overwhelming expedition and having the goal posts moved when you get there (for good reasons) can be exhausting and even scary.

Maybe when you get old, you'll understand.

Very few people are able bodied all their life.

Its a privilege to be able to 'just pop' here and there with no thought to how you'll get there and back and whether it's even possible.

If you give a bit of thought to what other people are dealing with you might become a bit more tolerant.

@grumpygrape

You have quoted my post but not said whether you agree the sentence I quoted made sense or not. I don’t care about the grammar on here. I was mainly looking at your ‘oldie bashing’ statement.

The OP said they were guessing the age of the people, guessing is hardly an objective measure. I think most people can tell which age bracket people are generally in by a glance.

Why were they were observing the people objecting instead of getting their own selves out? Staff often have to ensure customers are out before evacuating themselves.

I didn't say people (of any age) should not obey alarms or instructions given by staff. You said ‘oldie bashing’, OP wasn’t doing this.

I'm sorry you've been in a house fire but that experience is irrelevant to the OP's guessed complaint. People who have never been in a fire often wildly underestimate the speed of the fire and the smoke and urgency to get out and stay out.

Similar happened in GP surgery where I work.
People still complained that we ran late...

There should be equipment for wheelchair users that is separate from how to get a young child out of a buggy and simply carry him/her.

@SerendipityJane indeed, but she wasn't in a wheelchair. She had a buggy.

@GingerdeadMan For elderly or disabled people, just getting from their home to the car to the shop can feel like an overwhelming expedition and having the goal posts moved when you get there (for good reasons) can be exhausting and even scary.

Isn’t a potential fire in a supermarket even scarier? Being trapped by flames or not being able to see where the exit is due to the smoke? The alarm wasn’t a test OP said, isn’t it better to go home scared out of your wits because people hassled you to get out, or being carried out, and having to have a cup of tea and a cry when you get home, rather than not going home for a fortnight because you were in hospital?

Of course being nice and gentle and allowing people to finish their cake before gently suggesting they leave is lovely and in an ideal world we would all be like that, but in the fire safety talks we have had (in hospital, so potentially lots of bedridden or ill people) the final word is always “if the only way you can get people out is to drag them by their hair because that’s the only body part you can reach, that’s absolutely fine”.

Guessing that from those who moaned at the staff and security were the older side.

Were they or weren't they? Or were you just wanting to put the boot in without any real information??

I'm sure the emergency services will be heartened to know this if they have to remove your charred remains from a shop.

Maybe.

Now it's been mentioned you may notice (or more likely not notice) the provisions and their maintenance.

Anyway, as you were. I was in a Morrisons once when the fire alarm went off. There was the predictable stampede of thickos to the "exit", while I kicked open the fire door next to me, and used that.

EVAC chairs are nothing new - I was trained on using them in the 90s - but are expensive and fairly awkward to use properly.

I just had a look, all public buildings have fire safety rules to follow, and staff must be trained how to use the wheelchair exit equipment, or whatever they have. So it’s less ‘maybe’ and more ‘yes there IS equipment’.

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.

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

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).

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.

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!

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.

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