Fire drills in very tall buildings

[ESF]

Has this happened to you?  If you are in heels, do you just suffer on your way down all the stairs?

This morning I was in a 15th floor of a courthouse talking to three men (partners here, opposing counsel), when that building decided they needed to do a fucking fire drill. Everyone had to evacuate via the stairs. 

If you ever thought to yourself, "hey rushing down 15 flights of stairs in three inch heels and a pencil skirt sounds like fun", well you would be wrong.

I had flip flops in my bag, but that seemed embarrassing, so I suffered all the way down.  Now my feet and knees hurt.

Who knew fire drills could be sexist?

[jenny1223]

I once worked on the 22nd floor of a building and when we had fire drills (two that I can recall when I was there), we would just have to go down a few floors and hang out in the lobby of another company's office.

I'm sorry you had to do that in heels. You totally should've put on your flip flops and damn anyone for judging.

[IIOY]

I lived on the 29th floor of a high rise and they held regular fire drills, sometimes in the middle of the damn night. I used to grab my keys and just sit in the stairwell on 29 until it was over. I stopped putting my bunny in her cage and taking her with me because it was too much effort and I just didn't believe.

Basically my former residence trained me not to heed fire drills.

[redheadbaker]

Oct 2, 2014 13:55:05 GMT -5 ESF said:

Has this happened to you?  If you are in heels, do you just suffer on your way down all the stairs?

Yes and yes

[polarbearfans]

I would have thrown on my flip flops. Would have considered barefoot

eta: we just had one at work, and I just kept doing what I was doing. I did yell after the girls rushing out to call me if there was actually a fire

[ijack]

I would have totally put on my flip flops!

[pamela]

Commuting shoes or barefoot. Flip flops would never be in my bag

[Velar Fricative]

I would have yelled FUCK EVERYONE and put on my flip flops or ran out barefoot. But I'm klassy.

When I traveled for work once, the fire alarm at the hotel went off at 3:00 am so I'm outside in the winter in Rochester, New York in my pajamas and high heels only because we were on the first floor and those were the only shoes I found right away. Like I said, klassy. I'd rather run out barefoot now even in the winter.

[heyjude]

It's California! Put on the flip flops!

[msmerymac]

I used to work on the 10th floor and kept those travel flats in my desk drawer, which I used in emergencies such as this. If you are visiting, though? No advice - except to wear the flip flops!

[ECB]

Yeah- next time, put on those flops. I did a drill once from the 24th floor. I can't remember the shoes I had on. I was dressed professionally but I know I wasn't in HEELS. But in some kind of dress shoe. And yeah... my legs were sore for days after that.

[elleblue]

I probably would have just done it barefoot because flip flops and rushing down multiple flights of stairs = disaster for me. Oh and I would wash my feet before putting my heels back on because I'm neurotic like that.

[oreos]

I'm on the 12th floor of my building. Whenever the fire alarm goes off, I take the 3 seconds to switch to flat shoes I keep in my desk drawer. Thankfully I've never had it happen while away from my office. If it happened, though, I would definitely switch to flip flops if I had them on hand. Going up stairs in high heels is no big deal, but going down stairs is TOUGH.

[StrawberryBlondie]

I used to live on the 23rd floor of a building. I usually did flip flops.

I worked on the 6th floor here and would take my shoes off for that even though it wasn't a huge trek.

[moreace01]

Yes. I think I just walked all the way down in heels once and another time went down barefoot cause I knew better.

I guess - you never know where you will be when the alarm goes off. Could be on a different floor from your bag (and your flipflops). So anyway...my vote is take your shoes off and go down barefoot.

My issue is going down all those floors in a spiral - I get so dizzy...

[ChillyMcFreeze]

I'm pretty shameless about going barefoot, so I would kick off those heels in a heartbeat.

[v]

I work in one of the tallest buildings in New York. For the last 10 years I've worked in buildings that were no fewer than 40 stories. We've always had evacuation drills once a year but they entail walking down to the next reentry floor (no more than 4 floors below). No more than that. But I've had to walk all the way down when leaving during a fire alarm (actual, but false, alarm).

We are advised to keep a pair of comfortable shoes in our office for the purposes of evacuations to avoid having to do it in heels.

We had no power in our apartment building after Sandy, so for a week I had to come and go via 16 flights of pitch black stairs. That was brutal. (I felt REALLY bad for my friend with a puppy who lived on the 30th floor of his building).

[ESF]

If I were in my actual office or only with coworkers, I would have done the flip flops.

But because I was with other professional colleagues who I don't know as well, I felt silly pulling them out.

I am going to switch to carrying flats in my bag in the event this happens to me again. I probably would have felt less ridiculous in flats.

[sugarglider]

I've worked on the 40th, 42nd, 38th, and 37th floors.

Typically the fire drills would just require us to meet by the stairs to get a lecture from the fire marshal.
The one time an evacuation was required, I found out ahead of time and took the elevator down with some secretaries.

I keep flip flops in my work bag. If I couldn't get to them, I'd walk down the stairs barefoot. Going down stairs in heels is the worst.

[v]

DEFINITELY use your flip flops next time. It is not silly to use them for an evacuation drill, even in mixed company!!!

[hazel]

I work on the 41st floor. We walk down 5 flights for our fire drills and once a year there's a scheduled walk-down to practice getting out of the stairwell (it does get weird near the bottom of the building - it's not out and you're on the street). All that does is convince me is there's no way everyone is going to be able to evacuate the building in a real emergency situation. During the last building fire drill I saw opposing counsel have to partake, and they did not look happy. I didn't blame them at all.

ETA: Like the others, I keep tennis shoes at my desk. I wear flats often though, so I'm usually wearing those for the drills.

[josieposy]

I worked on the 21st floor for 3 yrs. Fortunately I did so much walking for my job that I never really wore heels.

[Susie]

Yes and yes.  My firm moved a year or two ago from a building where we were on the 14th floor.  We had scheduled fire drills, so I would come in late to miss them (or work at Starbucks across the street while I watched everyone spill out, then pile back in).  That was a partial solution, but didn't address all the "oops the dust set the fire alarm off again" that happened pretty regularly with construction on other floors.  It sucked a lot.