I like to explore. Most of the time this just means wandering around the neighborhood where my work building is located because the businesses are always changing—the cupcake place now serves hot chicken, there’s a new spot that used to be a law firm and now sells bagels, and so on. Sometimes too I like to explore the insides of buildings but because just wandering around can lead to uncomfortable questions I usually only do that if I have some legitimate reason to be in the building. My dentist used to be in a multistory tower and once when I had an appointment and arrived really early I decided to wander around the other floors and see what else the place had to offer. My dentist’s office was on the twelfth floor and I was on the ninth and, with my appointment time getting closer, I decided I’d just take the stairs up. For some reason this was one of those buildings where the stairwell doors are locked from the inside so once you’re in the stairwell the only way out is the first floor. Side note: the building where I work used to have the stairwell doors locked on both sides so you couldn’t take the stairs as all. The doors were supposed to unlock automatically in the event of an emergency which seemed reasonable as long as the emergency didn’t knock out the power.
Anyway since I couldn’t get to my dentist’s office by going up I went down to the first floor where I was met with a sign that said EMERGENCY EXIT ONLY. For me this was an emergency. I really had to get to my appointment even though I wasn’t looking forward to the cleaning. So I pressed the bar on the door and suddenly there was the loud wailing of an alarm. The exit also took me out of the building entirely and into an alley and fortunately once the door closed behind me it muffled the alarm or I would have been looking for an otolaryngologist next.
I went around the building and into the front entrance where a confused looking security guard asked if I’d seen anyone coming out from behind the building. “No,” I said, and this was true—I hadn’t seen myself.
This is just an extremely roundabout way of saying I appreciate that a local dive bar decided to open their emergency door making it easy for people to get out in case of an emergency. And it makes it easy for people to get in although if you look closely you can see that’s where the dart boards are so if you do go in the emergency might be you.
Source: Film Experience Blog
The doors were supposed to unlock automatically in the event of an emergency which seemed reasonable as long as the emergency didn’t knock out the power.
Don’t count on this. Just don’t. I was a career Fire Department Lieutenant. Trust me.
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I believe you about the doors. I asked a retired firefighter whether it was legal to have the stairwell doors in an office building locked on both sides. She just said, “If you pay the inspector enough anything’s legal.”
Full disclosure- I had to look up otolaryngologist.
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I’m glad to hear there’s at least one type of doctor you haven’t had to go to lately.
Exploring here is the best, Chris. I assume you got to your appointment on time. Thanks for bringing us along.
I’m glad you dropped in to explore here.