So, have any of you ever been in Ikea during a fire alarm?
We were shopping in an Ikea a year or so ago, in the furniture section. It’s just a bit past the entrance to “the maze”. A screeching fire alarm goes off. For about 10 minutes, everyone – including the Ikea employees – just ignore it and continue doing whatever. Then the Ikea employees start saying, “Please exit the store” or somesuch. That’s when I dawns on me that exiting the store is not as easy as it sounds. We could see no marked fire exits. The employees just said the “follow the arrows”.
Everyone knows how hard it is to get through an Ikea at the best of times. What about during a fire alarm? Well, I’m looking for the “shortcuts”, but they are not clearly marked. We do make it to a stairwell (I’ve been in this store a few times) and manage to avoid traversing the entire top and bottom floors. We’re faced with a pair of big doors marked, “Not an exit” or somesuch. We push through those doors and they dump us out at the front of the store, near the registers.
Now we’re at the front of the store, with no idea how to get out. Toward the front of the store, we see some exit doors. We try to push them open, but they’re blocked by carts on the outside. We finally get the carts pushed out of the way and people pour out into a small parking area. Note, that this Ikea has a parking garage under the store, so if the building were actually on fire, we’d be fucked because this second-level parking area we’re standing in is very close to the building and gives no easy exit to the ground and away from the building.
If there was actually a fire with smoke, people would have panicked and it would have been a deadly shit-show getting out.
I came to that conclusion about 20 years ago. If I want anything from them these days, I choose it on the website and only go into the store as far as the flat pack area to pick it up, or just order online. Fuck going to any IKEA again.
If I know what I’m after, I can be in and out of IKEA in about 15 minutes. You can bypass the showroom entirely, and go directly to the market hall. There’s generally enough cross through routes to cut past 50% plus. The only downside is the lack of maps, you have to sort of memorise the layout first to not skip past what you’re looking for.
Christ, imagine that but in the Duty Free maze at an airport and now you’re having to get past the people standing in the aisle gawping at concession stands for smellies, or just stopping dead in front of you for no reason.
So, have any of you ever been in Ikea during a fire alarm?
We were shopping in an Ikea a year or so ago, in the furniture section. It’s just a bit past the entrance to “the maze”. A screeching fire alarm goes off. For about 10 minutes, everyone – including the Ikea employees – just ignore it and continue doing whatever. Then the Ikea employees start saying, “Please exit the store” or somesuch. That’s when I dawns on me that exiting the store is not as easy as it sounds. We could see no marked fire exits. The employees just said the “follow the arrows”.
Everyone knows how hard it is to get through an Ikea at the best of times. What about during a fire alarm? Well, I’m looking for the “shortcuts”, but they are not clearly marked. We do make it to a stairwell (I’ve been in this store a few times) and manage to avoid traversing the entire top and bottom floors. We’re faced with a pair of big doors marked, “Not an exit” or somesuch. We push through those doors and they dump us out at the front of the store, near the registers.
Now we’re at the front of the store, with no idea how to get out. Toward the front of the store, we see some exit doors. We try to push them open, but they’re blocked by carts on the outside. We finally get the carts pushed out of the way and people pour out into a small parking area. Note, that this Ikea has a parking garage under the store, so if the building were actually on fire, we’d be fucked because this second-level parking area we’re standing in is very close to the building and gives no easy exit to the ground and away from the building.
If there was actually a fire with smoke, people would have panicked and it would have been a deadly shit-show getting out.
Fuck going to that Ikea again.
idk what kind of eldritch ikea you guys have, but here there’s fire exits every 50 meters.
Maybe this one: https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-3008
I came to that conclusion about 20 years ago. If I want anything from them these days, I choose it on the website and only go into the store as far as the flat pack area to pick it up, or just order online. Fuck going to any IKEA again.
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If I know what I’m after, I can be in and out of IKEA in about 15 minutes. You can bypass the showroom entirely, and go directly to the market hall. There’s generally enough cross through routes to cut past 50% plus. The only downside is the lack of maps, you have to sort of memorise the layout first to not skip past what you’re looking for.
I do feel a bit weird crossing these metal doors though. Feels like an employee-only thing, but I also know no one cares.
The ones at mine are just openings in the walls, with a sign above them.
IKEA doesn’t want you to know this but you can walk the wrong way without anyone trying to stop you.
Christ, imagine that but in the Duty Free maze at an airport and now you’re having to get past the people standing in the aisle gawping at concession stands for smellies, or just stopping dead in front of you for no reason.