When I came into work this Monday, I noticed that the stairs by my office were taped off, with bright red police tape instead of the usual “Caution: Wet Floor Signs.” Thought nothing of it, until one of the janitors mentioned that the fire marshall was in the building, telling people to stay off those stairs. Apparently there is some structural damage and they’re going to work on it over the summer. Sure, okay, whatever.
The next morning I noticed, in addition to the red tape, obnoxious pink flyers placed on the steps, admonishing potential stair goers. “By order of the Fire Marshall, access to these stairs are forbidden until further notice.” Maybe somebody was too lazy to walk over to the other stairwell, and ducked under the tape?
By yesterday morning, they had zip-tied a huge plywood beam across the entrance to the stairs and put more pink flyers down. That’s when I thought it started to get a bit ridiculous.
This morning when I passed it, there were yet even more pink flyers taped to the beam. I am not sure this is good for the structural integrity of the stairs. How many more mountains of flyers and wooden beams can it take before it collapses? I know they are concerned about our safety, but I can’t help but feel that they are insulting our observational abilities. Who knows, maybe they really need all this to prevent the more absent-minded math professors from walking up to their doom.
I’ll update tomorrow if I see a bouncer in a loud pink uniform stationed in front of the stairs.