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Fire drill: Difference between revisions
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Which, of course, by immutable rotation of the heavenly dials, they will be. | Which, of course, by immutable rotation of the heavenly dials, they will be. | ||
So you have to go through the motions for nothing and the | So you have to go through the motions for nothing and the upshot — regular fire drills — is a feature of commercial life. | ||
Those like the JC who were young parents at the millennium, who thus have every scene from ''[[Monsters, Inc.]]'' burned into their brains, know a “bang-disguised-whimper” as a “[[2319]]”. | |||
2. '''Office [[ennui]]''' (''archaic, falling out of use in the “[[new normal]]”''): An ''actual'' fire drill: the Friday afternoon clarion call over the Tannoys that declares all is well with the world — even the building’s fire alarms are working — and it is time for yon wildebeest to start their slow stampede for the exits. | 2. '''Office [[ennui]]''' (''archaic, falling out of use in the “[[new normal]]”''): An ''actual'' fire drill: the Friday afternoon clarion call over the Tannoys that declares all is well with the world — even the building’s fire alarms are working — and it is time for yon wildebeest to start their slow stampede for the exits. | ||
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There is a story, passed now into folklore, that an [[In-house lawyer|in-house legal eagle]] at JPM and her favourite lawyer at [[Linklaters]] would frequently have conversations so discursive, wide-ranging and long that they would span both the JPMorgan fire drill, at 10:30 in the morning, and the Linklaters one, at four in the afternoon. | There is a story, passed now into folklore, that an [[In-house lawyer|in-house legal eagle]] at JPM and her favourite lawyer at [[Linklaters]] would frequently have conversations so discursive, wide-ranging and long that they would span both the JPMorgan fire drill, at 10:30 in the morning, and the Linklaters one, at four in the afternoon. | ||
In any case, this kind of | In any case, this kind of fire drill is, of course, usually followed by a fire drill in the first sense, meaning that despite all indications to the contrary your weekend is wrecked after all, and almost certainly on account of a damp squib. | ||
Once a in a blue moon someone actually pushes the fire alarm button — or someone burning toast in the kitchen sets off the smoke alarm — and the whole building has to go through the motions of evacuating for real, with ceremonial fire wardens scuttling around behind them, searching up-turned paper recycling bins and janitorial cupboards for dawdlers who “might not have heard” the klaxon. | Once a in a blue moon someone actually pushes the fire alarm button — or someone burning toast in the kitchen sets off the smoke alarm — and the whole building has to go through the motions of evacuating for real, with ceremonial fire wardens scuttling around behind them, searching up-turned paper recycling bins and janitorial cupboards for dawdlers who “might not have heard” the klaxon. | ||