# You blithering fuckwit! **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [July 11, 2006, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-blithering-fuckwit/364083 "2006-07-11T20:40:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2006, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-blithering-fuckwit/364083/1 "2006-07-11T20:40:05Z")
In [this thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=7565684), Cunctator takes umbrage at a fire drill. You utter cunt. You **do not fuck with fire**. How do you know it’s a fire drill and not the real thing? Even if you’ve been told it’s a drill, how do you know that some arsewipe hasn’t taken the opportunity to set a real fire? Consider how a fire officer might feel about you if he’d climbed all those steps - in full kit mind - to deal with a real fire only to be confronted by a group of people who say, “We ignored the alarm because we thought it was only a drill.” Consider also how much more difficult his job has now become. Consider also that you are in real danger. Consider also that failure to respond to a fire alarm can endanger your colleagues. Fire wardens check their immediate areas to ensure that everyone is evacuating and if we (yes, I’m one) have to spend time telling you to fuck off than that’s time we’re not finding the person in danger or helping the disabled person to safety. Consider also that the point of a drill is so that when the real thing happens, you know exactly what to do. Practice makes perfect. Consider also that failure to evacuate can be classed as gross misconduct. You do like the money that your job brings you, don’t you? Grow up. ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2006, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-blithering-fuckwit/364083/2 "2006-07-11T20:45:07Z")
Is it just me or are people easily pissed off lately? It’s just a fire drill. It’s normal to be a little irritated at the interruption. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2006, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-blithering-fuckwit/364083/3 "2006-07-11T20:48:21Z")
That is one serious overreaction, dude. ---
**Author:** ![Syntropy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/65b543/32.png) [@Syntropy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Syntropy)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2006, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-blithering-fuckwit/364083/4 "2006-07-11T20:53:35Z")
> [@Anaamika](#): > > s it just me or are people easily pissed off lately? Happens every year. I think it’s the heat. Everyone gets a bit waspish. ---
**Author:** ![DianaG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7ab992/32.png) [@DianaG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DianaG)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2006, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-blithering-fuckwit/364083/5 "2006-07-11T20:57:10Z")
\*\*Cunctator \*\* never said that s/he didn’t evacuate, or failed to comply with the fire drill in any way. S/he merely bemoaned the inconvenience. What exactly is this pitting _for_, again? **Quartz** , may I get you a glass of water and a cool cloth? ---
**Author:** ![Man\_With\_a\_Cat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/cab0a1/32.png) [@Man\_With\_a\_Cat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Man_With_a_Cat)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2006, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-blithering-fuckwit/364083/6 "2006-07-11T20:57:42Z")
Considering the level of \*\*Cunctator’s \*\* OP, this response was pretty over the top. And, this coming from a guy who knows the value of fire drills, because I used to be the guy who organized fire drills for a group of high-rise office buildings. They’re great, they’re valuable, and they save lives. But, let’s face it, they ARE a disruption. ---
**Author:** ![TheLoadedDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/35a633/32.png) [@TheLoadedDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheLoadedDog)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2006, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-blithering-fuckwit/364083/7 "2006-07-11T21:12:24Z")
Don’t worry, **Cunctator**. I think this pitting is just a drill. A lot of noise but no substance. And more than a little annoying. ---
**Author:** ![Loopydude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e56c9b/32.png) [@Loopydude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loopydude)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2006, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-blithering-fuckwit/364083/8 "2006-07-11T21:14:28Z")
[QUOTE=Quartz] You **do not fuck with fire**. [/QUOTE] I got a bad desire. Oh oh oh, I’m on…FIRE! AAAAAAAAAGH! ---
**Author:** ![JustAnotherGeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/58f4c7/32.png) [@JustAnotherGeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JustAnotherGeek)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2006, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-blithering-fuckwit/364083/9 "2006-07-11T21:26:15Z")
…yeeeeeaaaaaahhhhh… Alright! Which one of you replaced **Quartz’s** coffee with amphetimines this morning? Fess up! I would like someone to show me where **Cunctator** says he ignores the fire drill? Dude, I would totally be on your side if **Cunctator** or anyone else suggested staying put when the alarm bell rings. But, come on, you can’t sit there and tell me that you haven’t felt annoyed by some basic training that you have had to sit through _again_ because of some newbie. Which is basically what most people feel about fire drills. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2006, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-blithering-fuckwit/364083/10 "2006-07-11T21:34:22Z")
Given the specivity of the title, I had to drop in on this thread to see if it was about me. Nope. Carry on. (Lame Pitting, BTW.) ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2006, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-blithering-fuckwit/364083/11 "2006-07-11T21:40:38Z")
The last time we had a fire alarm at work when I was there, it was because someone in our lab had been boiling some tubes in a water bath, then forgot about them. The water all boiled out and the tubes melted and started giving off noxious fumes. What was especially great was that the person who did it is insufferably arrogant and absolutely convinced of her infallability. Good times. That really has nothing to do with the topic, but what the hell? ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2006, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-blithering-fuckwit/364083/12 "2006-07-11T21:51:55Z")
[QUOTE=JustAnotherGeek] I would like someone to show me where **Cunctator** says he ignores the fire drill? Dude, I would totally be on your side if **Cunctator** or anyone else suggested staying put when the alarm bell rings. But, come on, you can’t sit there and tell me that you haven’t felt annoyed by some basic training that you have had to sit through _again_ because of some newbie. Which is basically what most people feel about fire drills. [/QUOTE] In point of fact, it seems pretty clear that he did, indeed go outside for the drill: > [@Cunctator](#): > > It wasn’t too bad this time. We didn’t have to wait around downstairs for very long. There was the usual scrum of people all trying to get back upstairs in the lifts, but we avoided the crowd by taking an express lift up to a higher floor and then coming back down a few flights of stairs. Chill out, **Quartz**. ---
**Author:** ![Ponder\_Stibbons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponder_stibbons/32/343_2.png) [@Ponder\_Stibbons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponder_Stibbons)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2006, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-blithering-fuckwit/364083/13 "2006-07-11T22:04:58Z")
[QUOTE=TheLoadedDog] Don’t worry, **Cunctator**. I think this pitting is just a drill. A lot of noise but no substance. And more than a little annoying. [/QUOTE] Crap. Beat me to it by almost an hour. Yes, this pitting is just a drill. **TLD** is practicing the invective he would spew should **Cunctator** actually ignore a real fire alarm in the future and be badly hurt as a result. No wait, that’s not quite right … ---
**Author:** ![Ponder\_Stibbons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponder_stibbons/32/343_2.png) [@Ponder\_Stibbons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponder_Stibbons)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2006, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-blithering-fuckwit/364083/14 "2006-07-11T22:06:04Z")
Drat! I reviewed that and everything. Naturally, I meant **Quartz** where I typed **TLD**. Sorry, **Dog**. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2006, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-blithering-fuckwit/364083/15 "2006-07-11T22:16:14Z")
[QUOTE=Miller] Chill out, **Quartz**. [/QUOTE] He can’t help it - it’s the pissoffelectric effect. ---
**Author:** ![Anne\_Neville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Anne\_Neville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anne_Neville)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2006, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-blithering-fuckwit/364083/16 "2006-07-11T22:17:46Z")
[QUOTE=DianaG] **Quartz** , may I get you a glass of water and a cool cloth? [/QUOTE] I think we’d better skip the glass of water, and go right to a nice glass of beer or wine… When I was an undergrad, I knew a grad student who had the fire alarm go off _during her thesis defense_. It was a real fire, though not a major one- somebody had let the magic blue smoke out of some components in an electronics lab. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2006, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-blithering-fuckwit/364083/17 "2006-07-11T22:23:51Z")
Yeah, gotta join my voice to the choir saying, “Somebody’s shorts are too tight today.” Well, I don’t _have_ to - I choose to. 😃 Actually, I could have pitted the blithering fuckwit who kept pulling the fire alarm during my after lunch English class in University. We lost a LOT of class time to that. (Ha! I just got that, **Bryan**. Cause he’s quartz…) ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2006, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-blithering-fuckwit/364083/18 "2006-07-11T22:32:14Z")
[QUOTE=JustAnotherGeekI would like someone to show me where **Cunctator** says he ignores the fire drill? [/QUOTE] I never said he ignored it; I said he took umbrage at it. ---
**Author:** ![DianaG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7ab992/32.png) [@DianaG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DianaG)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2006, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-blithering-fuckwit/364083/19 "2006-07-11T22:39:12Z")
Dude, that’s all ya got? ---
**Author:** ![Cunctator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/43a26b/32.png) [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2006, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-blithering-fuckwit/364083/20 "2006-07-11T22:45:11Z")
This pitting seems way over the top to me. As others have noted - yes, I did participate in the fire drill yesterday. I do take them seriously, having myself once had to evacuate from a real fire. But there’s no doubt that they’re also disruptive, which was all that I was trying convey in my OP. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-blithering-fuckwit/364083.md?page=2)