So we had some real excitement at my office this past week. It started around 5 p.m. when the smell of burnt popcorn filled the air … really filled the air. Less than a minute later, the fire alarm goes off and the loud and unintelligible voice of security comes over the intercom and tells us to “go to the stairs … blah blah blah … evacuate.”

While we all pondered whether or not to actually leave, our department head comes by and says something about setting a bag of popcorn on fire. HA! No way! Now we are all very amused and not the least bit worried about dying in a high-rise blaze. (Granted it’s time to go home, but the elevators have been shut down and we are on the 35th floor.)

Apparently someone did call security to let them know what happened, but that didn’t stop them from sending 17 (SEVENTEEN!) emergency vehicles to our building. (Although, you can only see 11 in this photo … sorry for the sucky quality, but that’s the best my iPhone could do from the window, at sundown.)

This is the person responsible (our boss), hiding in her office in shame.


5:35 pm – The firemen arrive on our floor. So thank goodness it wasn’t a real fire, or we all would have been toast. I counted seven of them, but there may have been more. I was trying to be inconspicuous with the photo taking.

And here is the culprit. I wonder how much this bag of popcorn really cost in the end?

The biggest lesson learned was … I am way too lazy to walk down 35 flights of stairs. And that popcorn only takes about 2 minutes to cook in our office.

P.S. The title comes from a coworker who called up to make sure we were all okay.

— The B.S. Cafe is now serving popcorn … well done.