Exiting Through Fire Doors

[rbcp]

Lately I've been really itching to open up doors that are labeled EMERGENCY EXIT ONLY and casually hang around outside them once I've exited.  I want to see what the reactions of managers and store security are to that.  It'd be a social experiment!  I'd film it all, of course.  Or at least get audio of it.

I remember when working at Target, someone exited through a fire exit right by the service desk and restrooms, setting off the alarm.  A few kids were in the restroom hallway and one of the managers was freaking out, asking the kids if they saw who went out the door and if the person had any merchandise with him.  I want to do this at Targets and Wal-Marts and Fred Meyers.  I want to say I was looking for the rest room or I was just stepping outside for a smoke break.

My question is - is this illegal?  Does the simple act of labeling a door an emergency exit make it illegal to open it?  Is it the same as setting on a store's fire alarm?

[ApprenticePhreak]

I believe it's actually nothing more than a store level security system. In fact I'm fairly certain it doesn't even call any form of official to the store which would in turn delegate your livelihood afterward. But all in all you really can't be harassed for it in a legal sense as I've seen these doors set off countless times while I was working at Home Depot by some miscreant pieces of shit who were looking to steal chainsaws and lawn mowers but without the common sense to realize a klaxton alarm would fill the air at the press of the button.

Most I've seen done in these scenarios are a few managers come by and the store manager if available, and may even try to hastily evacuate customers or just question you in bold as to why you're there and either not running for the hills, or why you did it.

[BaconStrips]

of coure it legal. Who can blame you for walking through a door? Who cares what the sign says...I say do it!!!

[nyphonejacks]

i do not see how or why this would be considered illegal...

you could come up with just about any reason why it was an "emergency" for you to go out the door... such as your nicotine dropped to low, and you needed to get outside for your emergency cigarette, or something like, someone just texted you that there was a sale at one of their competitors stores, and you had to get there quickly, because much of the merchandise was gone already..

now if the door is not labeled "emergency" but "fire exit" or something similar... i guess you would have to come up with some other type of stupid excuse...

[Nod]

I know for a fact that the store I worked at had the fire/emergency exit door tied into the alarm system so that it would not only be annoyingly loud if it went off but would also alert the fire dept. Tread carefully.

[SpaceBison]

I did this accidentally once at a McDonalds when I was in 5th grade with one of those big enclosed play place hamster tube things. According to one of my friends the alarm was going off for around an hour before they shut it off.

[Copyright]

I remember my brother set one off in Walmart when we were 3 or 4. Nothing happened besides them having to turn it off. I'd set it off and blame it on some kids.

[liammk]

I would be careful as you could cop the call out fee of the fire department if the door is wired up to the alarm system to act similarly to a fire alarm button. I do lighting, sound and video at school for theater productions and once we decided to setup four high powered smoke machines in a small room to see what would happen. We called up the alarm company to tell them to disable the alarms for 15 minutes and they said that they had. We found out the hard way that the alarm company lies when the fire department showed up and gave the school at $1500 fine. Luckily for us the principal is a reasonable person so the technical crew didn't cop the blame.

[nyphonejacks]

i think that it would be pretty retarded for someone to wire an exit door to automatically call the alarm company and have the police/fire department dispatched - at most if the alarm was even active during business hours they would call the contact number to ensure there was no emergency and get the password... it is a little different than a fire/smoke alarm going off... under that circumstance it is a good idea to send the fire department...

[Jo Nathen]

Always wondered why shopping malls have them at the end of 20 mile long hallways. That would be easy to walk out of.....and what if there was a fire in that freaking hallway?? You couldnt get out.....haha. Plus, the hallways never have lit exit signs....

[Cyclopath]

As has been said by others, some places have the fire exits wired up to the fire alarm for God knows what reason. I work for a supermarket chain (starts with a W, ends with an E) and I know ours are set up like that.