Monday, February 16, 2009

Priorities

Last Saturday evening, I was just about to finish my claypot chicken rice in City Mall when the fire alarm suddenly went off. The food court in City Mall is located on the second floor. There weren't many people there—I can only assume that many of them must have gone to some posh restaurants since it was Valentine's Day.

Anyway, in spite of the fire alarm, the people in that food court were surprisingly calm. All of us started walking towards the escalators. There was no panic whatsoever—no pushing, no shouting—all very calm. But once we reached the ground floor of the building, people were beginning to bottle-neck towards the main entrance. The escalators leading to the basement car park were sealed off. The security guards actually stood there and were adamant not to allow people from going down to the basement.

I was a little worried as my car was parked in the basement. Apparently the generator set on the basement level caught fire, thus causing thick smoke. I thought it wasn't anything serious, but I suppose the building management wasn't taking any chances.

The funny thing was that many people were trying to find ways to get down to the basement anyway to save their vehicles. The guards who blocked the escalators explained that they had strict instruction not to allow anyone pass through.

Then I saw an old couple trying to argue with the guards, saying that their car's in the basement. During the commotion, the guard mentioned something like they should give priority to their lives rather than their car. But the wife was not convinced. She wanted to save her car one way or another. And then suddenly she remembered that they'd left their shopping bags at the counter before entering Giant Supermarket. So she dragged her husband towards that counter. The husband refused, since they should be leaving the building rather than going back inside. It was quite an amusing scene, really.

Anyway, some of us—including me—sneaked in to the basement through the side staircase near the main entrance. In the confusion, no one guarded that particular access somehow. When I got to the basement, I was surprised to find that many other people were already there trying to escape with their cars. And so everyone got into a traffic jam.

And the beauty of it all was that these people actually drove up the ramps, and upon reaching the main entrance of the building, stopped to pick up passengers one by one and loading their groceries, hence causing further delays. Bear in mind that all this was in spite of the fire alarm.

In the end, I took 15 minutes to finally reach the main road. If there was an explosion or the fire had spread, many, many people would have died that night. As I was driving away from the building, I could still see many people lingering around the building—and therefore contributing to the traffic jam—just to see what would happen next.

It is strange that many people get their priorities all wrong during emergencies. They will try to save their belongings somehow even if they might lose their lives in the process.

6 comments:

Unknown said...

Hi Cornelius, thanks for sharing about the fire at City Mall. I totally agree that in cases of emergencies, our Malaysians are just as kiasu as our neighbours and totally not kiaSI! Anyway, we heard there was a fire at City mall and then we heard it was a false rumour. Glad you set that straight for me.

See you at the hunt this weekend! :)

Cornelius said...

Hi Hanaa,

There was really a fire in the basement... thick smoke and all. But it wasn't a serious one. The management just decided not to take chances, that's all. I think they made the right call. I would have done the same thing had I been in their shoes.

I see many more visitors to this blog over the last couple of days. Many of you are trying to get as much information as possible about this Sunday's hunt, but I'm sorry to say that I have not much more to share with you all. Tell Johan to be gentle to my team please. And I think the other Johan from KL will also be coming over for the hunt.

Sudah practise the coconut bowling kah?... hehehe

Unknown said...

Aiya! Forgot about the coconut bowling! Oh well...haha..yes, I'm on your blog cos Johan said to read some pointers for practise! hahaha...that's the info I was looking for la. I'm sure so many ppl read your blog n not leave comments but just curi-curi want to learn! But that's testament to your mastery! For your information, I support your insistence on grammatically correct sentences/questions. But Johan would argue with me on that as he says it's all about fun.

Anyway, til Sunday!

May the best team have the most fun! :)

Unknown said...

Dear Cornelius, it is not for me to be gentle on your team but rather the inverse is true...i posted an earlier comment but it did not seem to be stored in your comments box...but what i wanted to say is, Kita sama - sama orang Sabah, we should stand united against the outsiders that come for the day to take RM 5,000 from our dear DBKK. I propose all Sabah teams to work together..so kita semua jumpa kat Indah Permai jam 1300 before handing in our answers...together we stand, divided we fall...sya menyeru semua hunter Sabah...work together...ok Jam 1300..indah permai..set...!

Unknown said...

mohon maaf jika ada kesilapan grammar...

Cornelius said...

Alamak! journeyman!... jangan gitu geng! Malu besar kita urang Sabah. Bukan lagi besar malu, ujung-ujung besar kemaluan! Sekarang ni pun sudah mula mau mengembang kemaluan!

Jumpa di Indah Permai?... Oh! tak boleh!... tapi pukul brapa?

Share answers?... Oh! tak boleh!... tapi treasure pun mau share kah?

Di kedai kah kita jumpa?... Oh! tak boleh!... di Cool City kah?

Bah, jangan kita 'ndak tentu, ujung-ujung kena disqualified nanti, mata putih kita semua geng! Kita buli lawan bah... jangan kalah action. Biar mati action, jangan mati accident. Cuma masalahnya urang yang suka action selalunya mati accident!

Pasal grammar, itulah kamu anak branak 'ndak join KK Challenge 4. Sya sudah bikin trick cantik-cantik untuk kamurang, tau-tau withdraw last minute! Kalau tidak, gerenti kena this trick!