The girlfriend suffered a power outage at work the other day. Was she concerned? No, of course not. Why? Because when she started woprking there the Zero asked her where the stairwell was, did it have emergency lighting, and lets go walk down it so you’ll know where it is in case theres a problem. And then I gifted her with a couple lightsticks and a Streamlight LED flashlight to keep i her desk. Thus, she simply took her flashlight and left the building via the stairs. The interesting part is the sheep she encoutnered who wondered if perhaps taking the elevators was safe or not..and then, when told the stairs might be a better idea, asked how she’d know what floor she’s on. At that point I would have left her to her own devices but the girlfriend is a more patient sort and escorted the brainless cow down the stairs. Will the woman learn a lesson about these things and perhaps spend $5 to keep a Photon LED light on her keychain? I’ll almost guarantee she will not.
How will she know what floor she’s on? Thats just too amazing to comprehend.
(The correct answer, of course, is you know what floor your office is on…you subtract one each time you come to a landing with a door on the stairs. When you run out of steps youre in thebasement.)
Or, with your LED flashlight, you could simply read the floor number on or over the door …
Hmm…I think someone who doesn’t know how to use stairs is a candidate for being weeded out by natural selection, but I commend your girl friend for her compassion. We have fairly frequent power outages at work. Being about the only one with a flashlight, I usually man the stairwells, as we’d really not like to get sued by a student who plummeted down 3 flights of stairs while using a cellphone as a flashlight (which most of them do). The last time a transformer blew, and we knew we’d be without power for a while, I turned off my flashlight, and my blind student led me and a couple of my students (they’re all adults) on a tour of the building, explaining to us how he cognitive maps his environment so that he can find his way around…quite informative, as the first floor is rather labrynthine with lots of little doglegs left and right and glass-doored display shelves that it would be better not to stumble into.
I’ve had a blind friend do that for me once. It was really eye-opening.
So to speak ;p
That’s just it – our building doesn’t have signs in the stairwell denoting the floor. 🙂
In most places, that’s a required safety feature.
It would be too much to expect today in today’s workforce, simple math. I am on the 8th floor and I go down two where am I?! You should have told them to go up to the helipad.
In her building it isn’t much of an issue, but if you’re on the 12th floor of a hotel, for instance, and the stairway loops back once for each floor, it’s very, very easy to lose count quite quickly.
“go up to the Helipad”
and wait for the rescue chopper heh heh heh
it can be hell
when dealing with others in a blackout whom never have a working flashlight, let alone a candel; despite all the warnings. thats why so many die earning a darwin award! hey, maybe a handgun be included to ward off stupid zombies? sheesh,Wildflower 06
Maybe not a big deal in a power failure, but in a major emergency most minor brain functions (simple math, fine motor skills, etc.) go right out the window. It would not be unexpected for someone in an emergency to not know how many floors they’ve descended.
But I see your point and agree. 🙂
…boooo….hissss….
In c aouple of my workplaces they have gates at ground level
The idea is that even in thick smoke, fogged goggles, heavy equip the firefighters can just follow the rail until the lead guy gets to the gate and then they know they’re at ground level. Or that’s what I assume the idea is.
Re: In c aouple of my workplaces they have gates at ground level
or at least the front gate of hell. Wildflower 06
it is tricky, but good practice when you have no other means of finding the last level.
Re: In c aouple of my workplaces they have gates at ground level
Yup – that’s the idea – the basement gates are good for both firefighters and paniced people who have been known to stampeed into the basement and then look for an exit (not recommended). Some gates are spring loaded and close when the fire alarm goes off.
Re: In c aouple of my workplaces they have gates at ground level
Oh, the commerical fire codes in many parts of the CONUS require stairwell basement gates, apparently.
self installed markers
Even if you building doesn’t have a gate, why couldn’t you glue a reflector to the last stair tread you need to descend? If permanently affixed to the wall on the right of the last tread, I doubt any janitor would try to remove it and you would have a visual and tactile location tool for getting out.