12 April 2012
How Not to Exit Our Building
Late one night about two weeks ago, a resident in our building ordered a pizza to be delivered. This is a routine action I'm sure most of us have done multiple times, but for this pizza delivery guy, this delivery was anything but routine.
He was buzzed into the 535 lobby and appeared to be headed for the elevator after a cell phone discussion in the lobby with, most likely, the intended recipient. However, moments later he appeared on the G2 level.
For the next 9 minutes he cycled between the G2 and G3 garage levels going up and down the ramp obsessively checking every door that led into the building at least three or four times. Finally, in an act of frustration and desperation, he pulled the fire alarm station on G2. The fire department arrived within minutes and he reported both to the fire department and the Redondo police that he had thwarted an attempted robbery in our garage by sounding the fire alarm.
This would be really humorous if it wasn't so pathetic. There is no antidote for stupid but we can acknowledge that there are some people in this world that may need more help than others and, therefore, we should remember to give explicit directions to visitors that we buzz in to the lobby. The number one piece of information to pass on is; “DO NOT GO INTO THE STAIRWELL”.
Last year we upgraded all the signs on the back of the stairwell doors so that any visitor who inadvertently got into the stairwell would know to proceed down to G4 and then walk up the ramp to G1 and exit the building by the door next to the garage gate. Of course for this to be effective, you have to know how to read. I have no way of knowing what information was or was not passed to this pizza delivery guy, but I have to believe that if he ever delivers a pizza again to this building, the caller will stand a better chance of getting his pizza hot.