...Now set off the fire alarm

[scmhogg]

This has to be prank of the year.

http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/years/2009/0609092prank1.html

Be sure to read the police report.

Steve

[crokett]

It is not a 'prank'. It is criminal behavior and vandalism by proxy.

[docrowan]

Most people don't have a clue how fire sprinkler systems work. Movies and TV shows reinforce misconceptions about what sprinklers are for, how they are triggered, and how they operate.

Had the hotel clerk or the hotel guest had the faintest conception of how a sprinkler system works, they would have stopped short of busting the windows. I can understand being duped into setting the fire alarm, and I could understand the hotel clerk attempting to bust the windows. But the hotel guest identified himself as an "incident commander" before speaking on the phone with the prankster and then busting the front windows with a fire extinguisher. I don't mean to relieve any responsibility on the pranskter - his actions were reprehensible and obviously criminal - but the situation went waaay too far.

[Ed62]

All I can say is "WOW"!

Ed

[tfischer]

My gawd, how gullible are people?

I can perhaps understand being duped into pulling the alarm. But "breaking all the exterior windows" to keep the sprinklers from firing? That doesn't make sense even on the lowest layman's level...

[pelligrini]

LOL, that's funny. Some folks are really gullible.

I agree, most folks have no clue how sprinkler and alarm systems work. Cut off the power, I could understand, but breaking windows or a sprinkler head? The clerk and guest don't seem too swift to me.

I do hope they catch the caller and put his feet to the fire though.

[tfischer]

The clerk and guest don't seem too swift to me.

My old boss used to always say "Everyone needs a job that's a challenge for them". Usually said, for example, in line at McDonald's, when the counter person was having trouble understanding that "no mustard" meant the customer actually didn't want mustard on their sandwich.

[Thalermade]

At least they authorities should have a phone number from where the calls came, since Rusty Brown had the phony sprinkler employee call his cell phone.


And by the way, who names a kid Rusty Brown, "the Holiday Inn guest who helped Bergmann follow the prankster's instructions, told TSG he was "an innocent bystander and got involved in domestic terrorism." Bown, 36, remarked that there was "absolute panic in that hotel," adding that, "all I did was make it worse. I'm not proud of breaking windows. It is very disheartening."

I guess life is a lot more complicated than our days of "is your refrigerator running?"
Russ

[BobSch]

Any bets Christina is a blond?

[Kristofor]

I'm an invasive species monitor for the Environmental Safety Bureau. Your house is infested with Chinese biting snails, probably from contaminated building material. You've heard about the so-called stinky dry-wall? That's snail droppings in the walls...

If these are allowed to spread the neighborhood children could be bitten and all of the nearby houses including yours may need be destroyed. To prevent this from happening you need to tear all of your drywall out so the snails are exposed to light and air which will kill them. You'll be a hero and will prevent even more damage later!

If you read that and tore out your drywall you're an idiot. The person writing it might be a jerk (hey, I resemble that remark!) and might even be liable, but the root cognitive failure is with the person acting on the information (be it tearing out their dry wall, or smashing hotel windows...).

[herb fellows]

Stupid is as stupid does.

[Hellrazor]

Claiming those 2 are dumber than a brick is a great disservice to bricks. They actually have a purpose in life, I am not sure those 2 morons ever will.