Nearly got trapped at a call center in Detroit when the fire alarm went off

I was stuck at my desk at Premier Solutions in Detroit last Tuesday, taking my 47th call of the day about a billing error, when the fire alarm started blaring. My supervisor yelled over the intercom that it was a drill and nobody should move, so we all just sat there for 12 minutes while the alarm screamed. Turns out it was a real small fire in the break room, but they didn't want us to lose productivity time. I got up and walked out anyway, and three other people followed me. When I came back, my shift manager wrote me up for unauthorized break and docked my pay for 15 minutes. Has anyone else had a job where they expected you to ignore safety stuff just to meet call quotas?

2 comments

2 Comments

gibson.seth11d ago

Used to be one of those guys who thought safety drills were just time wasters. Figured if a company said it was a drill, it was no big deal and we should just follow orders. But reading this made me realize how messed up that thinking is. A fire is a fire, whether it's a drill or not, and nobody should be forced to stay put if they feel unsafe. Your supervisors put their call quotas over your wellbeing and that's just wrong. I wouldn't have blamed you if you walked out and kept on going.

faithf7710d ago

Same here. I walked out during a drill once and never looked back.