I just call to say....

I feel annoyed when my phone starts ringing, especially when I do not recognize the number on the little screen. Just when I'm about to finish a last e-mail at work before I go home after a long week where I've been in a constant battle against fatigue and a cold, some stranger interrups and postpones my return home. When I pick up I first think I caught a head-hunter on the phone ...they have the annoying habit to try to phone people after business hours for jobs that are usually not remotely linked to my job experience and my mind races what to say to dismiss him politely.

"..from 137"
"what excuse me, can you repeat that please?"

It turns out to be an unknown neighbour (not on 137) living in one of the studio's next doors and they got my phone number from our neighbours at the other side.

"We wanted to let you know that your smoke detector's alarm has been sounding for over an hour now. You live on number x right. "
"euh yes" [Whaaaaaaaaaaaaat!!! ]
"But we've been looking through the windows, it all looks fine though. But it doesn't stop, we thought we had to phone. We tried to phone your husband too but it went over on his voicemail."



......
I suppose it's fairly safe to assume your house is not (seriously) on fire if the detector has been sounding for over an hour and neighbours still can't notice anything at the windows.

Nevertheless Jan and I both raced home asap (and hit traffic jams obviously) and I did feel quite relieved to arrive home in a very uneventful street. But you did hear the alarm one house away and not quite remarkably none of the lights at the neighbours were on. They must have all escaped.

I guess that smoke detector is ready for garbage: it's only 3 weeks old and it's the 2nd false alarm in those 3 weeks. Fortunately the first time it happened when we were at home. I think an alarm that sets off without reason all the time is just as bad as an alarm not setting off when it should.

Comments

Korie said…
Ugh. But at least your neighbors were kind enough to try to reach you?
Fourier Analyst said…
Hopefully it is just a smoke detector and not a carbon monoxide detector. My aunt got one last Christmas as a present. And before she could hang it up it kept going off. After the third time, she called a neighbor who was a volunteer fireman and he told her to walk outside the house immediately and he would meet her there. Long story short, the reason she'd had a headache for weeks (thought it was the flu) was carbon monoxide poisoning. It probably saved her life! Just make sure it really is a defect and not going off for some other reason!!
Snooker said…
Sounds like a good time to take it back to the store and demand a new one.

Popular Posts