By timv94 - 24/07/2014 01:34 - United States - Lexington

Today, the fire alarm went off at work. My office is on the second floor, and the door to the stairs were jammed shut. The only way out was jumping out the window. The best part was breaking my leg due to someone burning their lunch. FML
I agree, your life sucks 47 122
You deserved it 8 606

timv94 tells us more.

timv94 4

I'm the only person on the second floor. We have HIGHLY explosive chemicals in the labs on the first floor. I'd rather have a broken leg than blow up and die.

Top comments

Goblin182 26

I think I would have made sure there was clear and present danger before jumping out of a second floor window.

Comments

cesa12 10

Wow OP that's awful. I hope you heal up soon!

I would rather break my leg than get burnt to death (if that would be the case). Count your blessings, human!

incoherentrmblr 21

Well, at least you weren't on the 38th floor like the person in their apartment in another FML...

So was OP the only person on the second floor of this building? What about the fact that there were probably people outside on the ground that could've informed OP if there was a real fire threat or not? I don't vote YDI very often because I can empathize with the OP, but this is definitely a YDI.

Goblin182 26

I think I would have made sure there was clear and present danger before jumping out of a second floor window.

I wouldn't even have the courage to jump out of a window unless I knew my life was legitimately in danger.

Me neither. The OP made a reckless decision, jumping before checking for immediate danger wasn't the smartest idea.

zevo1415 10

Yeah "lets just jump out of a window" seems like legit protocol

No shit lol especially when things like unannounced fire drills or issues with the system exist. I would find out what's going on before I even thought about jumping.

It's pretty easy to be a monday morning quarterback about this kind of thing. But in the heat of the moment with the alarm screaming and your legitimate exit jammed shut, it's pretty easy to get into a panic cycle. That being said, with the door to the stairwell being jammed shut, the resulting lawsuit might soon make OP the owner of the company.

QueenofWheels 13

If it was real he could have died checking to make sure it was real.

martin998877 12

Good job you weren't on the 4th floor. Or tenth floor.

It's YDI!!! Not a real fire....shoulda just stayed put on the second floor OP!!!!

OP didn't know it wasn't a fire, so what if it actually was and he stayed put?

41 - then he they could have waited a bit? if there was no flames or smoke then there was no imediate danger..

then jump out when he knows it is real. i get that you can panick being up higher, but id be panicked about being hurt falling too..

The immidiate danger was that the fire alarm was going off and the evacuation route was jammed.

46 - Generally, if there's a fire, and say he was in his office, the smoke would have risen (cold sinks, hot rises) and the fire would have had to eat through the door before he would've known. The correct thing to do, if he was in an office, check if the door handles hot. If there's an inferno on the other side, it'll be scalding hot. In this case it would've been cool and saved OP a lot of pain. Since it doesn't say if it was a office or a cubicle... We can't really dictate if he deserves it or not. I can say one thing about it, that'd be a big ass paycheck is be getting for a jammed emergency exit.

Well on a bright side, wait. There is no bright side.

Correct. There is only the Dark Side.

RpiesSPIES 27

I would have maybe checked or asked if it were a fire worth jumping out the window for... I guess better safe than sorry. fyl

broken leg > getting burned. a broken leg is clearly being safe if that was the situation :/ but I bet the workplace will feel a bit akward from now on.

I suppose... but I don't think I'd be hasty to jump out of a window, not knowing how major the fire is first. I'd probably think it was a fire drill or something little (at work not at home)

ulissey_fml 22

As soon as you go back to work, that person is toast. Get well soon and bide your time, OP.

skittyskatbrat 19

Wait...what??? If you were stuck on the second floor and there weren't flames at the door, why didn't you just wait by the window for a ladder truck or similar??? Obviously you were in no immediate danger of burning to death. Total YDI. Points to Darwin.

Please do not ever, ever wait in a burning building for a fire truck to come if you're able to escape even if the fire isn't right outside your door. When a building is burning you need to get out NOW. Not in five minutes when you see smoke or 10 when you see flames or however long until the fire truck comes unless you literally have no other choice because by then it could be too late. This is basic fire safety and if anyone waited for the fire truck to come when they could have escaped then THEY should receive the Darwin award.

skittyskatbrat 19

So...the faintest whiff of smoke, and he jumps out the window? Um...riiiiight. Yeah, heavy smoke, sure. But he's standing, by an open window, with the smoke from (drumroll, please) a burned meal. No visible flames, no heavy smoke (maybe a whiff???), no hot door, nothing. We're not talking anyone remotely in any sort of immediate danger. And his response to "no immediate danger" and "possible future danger that he can escape from at the time if it is real" with no delay (beside the window, remember?) is to jump out a second story window. Not climb out a first-story and get a splinter in his finger, but actually risk his life, health, safety, etc.??? Total YDI.

Why are none of you wondering why the fire doors jammed shut?

So you decide to jump out the second story window without finding out if the fire was even a threat?

Agreed, it seems OP jumped to the conclusion that his life was in danger. You could even say logic went out the window.

If I thought it was a real fire I wouldn't hesitate either. It wasn't anything planned so how was OP supposed to know? If it would have been a real fire I'm sure OP would much rather have a broken leg than burns.

See, I'm thinking that the real problem is that the workplace's fire exit was inaccessible. If there had been a real fire and people were trapped and burned to death? Mega lawsuit waiting to happen.

I'm pretty sure it's a mega-lawsuit waiting to happen anyway. A jammed stairwell door causing an injury during a fire alarm? OP's gonna retire!

CurlyQute 17

Well it's obvious that they panicked.... I'm sure that most of you guy would want to get out ASAP if you heard the fire alarm go off and it wasn't a drill.

What were other people on the second floor doing? I think you could've investigated a bit before making the decision to jump.