My dad lives on the second floor of the assisted living part of a large retirement apartment complex. A few days ago, he was awakened by the blasting sound of a fire alarm at 6:40 A.M.
At first he thought it could be a drill, but it was awfully early for that. He decided he’d better assume it was real, and changed into his clothes, put on shoes, then went out of his room.
He was shocked to see some smoke in the lobby. Smoke was also coming out of cracks in the elevator doors. The only other resident out there was his newest neighbor, Barbara. She had thrown on a robe and was standing near a window, where she could see downstairs to the office, which seemed to be the source of the smoke.
Soon one of the caretakers came upstairs and told them the smoke was coming from the microwave in the break room. One of the workers had been cooking a banana and somehow caught it on fire. The problem was contained to just the microwave and everything was OK.
My dad’s story made me wonder…Why didn’t all the residents leave their apartments when they heard the fire alarm? They’ve had fire drills for practice. While I’m glad my dad took the alarm seriously, why didn’t he just grab a robe and leave his apartment? How would the residents have escaped when there was smoke in the elevator shaft? If they tried exiting through their dining room and kitchen, would the doors have been locked?
But the question that bugged me the rest of the day…Why would someone microwave a banana???
(The next day I asked my dad why the residents didn’t respond to the fire alarm. He said they told him they didn’t know what it was or what to do. And the banana…it was a plantain. A worker had wrapped it in a paper towel and set the microwave for one hour instead of one minute, causing it all to burn and smoke).
(The photo is from www.twinkiesproject.com/radiation.html It shows a Twinkie on fire. No plantains or bananas were harmed in this experiment, but I can’t say the same for the Twinkie).
* Those of you of “a certain age” will remember talk of people trying to get high by smoking banana peels in the 60’s. My quick research shows it can’t happen. There are no intoxicating chemicals in banana peels. It was a hoax published in The Berkeley Barb in March 1967. Wow, I haven’t heard of The Berkeley Barb forever!
Ha! Ha! Ha! The microwaved banana was my burning question, too! I'm wondering now, what does a properly microwaved plaintain taste like?
ReplyDeleteOn the other question . . . as long as the staff knows what to do in the event of a fire, it is not always necessary for the residents to be drilled. So, the better question would be: Where was the staff?
-- Suzy
PS I still think the Einstein blog is hilarious!