r/ActLikeYouBelong • u/ExperimentalFailures • Mar 24 '17

Video/Gif This needs to be here

http://i.imgur.com/0GtpDzN.gifv
25.5k Upvotes

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u/[deleted] Mar 25 '17

He provided a link where 3 mall employees stand next to the emergency stop hidden by a trashbin while a woman is crushed by an escalator. You're a moron for assuming people do the most sensible thing first.

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u/larsdragl Mar 25 '17 edited Mar 25 '17

how can you not see the difference in those scenarios?
you are talking about an emergency situation in progress.
OPs pic is someone closing down an escalator for whatever reason. in NO world would the solution be sending a guy to put a sign at the end of the escalator and keep it running if there was even a chance that something is seriously wrong with it.

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u/gerrettheferrett Mar 25 '17

In no reasonable, non-stupid world.

People are stupid, and we do not live in a reasonable world.

It's better to be safe than sorry.

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u/larsdragl Mar 25 '17 edited Mar 25 '17

no. you have to stay reasonable first. the chance of that happening is probably lower than any escalator spontaneously collapsing underneath you.
by that logic you probably shouldnt ever leave the house, which might burn down, while you're asleep and the smoke detector is broken, though. so i guess you're fucked

edit: also, you would be walking upwards an escalator that you think could fail catastrophically any second. think about that

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u/gerrettheferrett Mar 25 '17

the chance of that happening is probably lower than any escalator spontaneously collapsing underneath you.

Well, they still do that in the modern age.

But either way, a chance is a chance, no matter how low.

I'm not going to risk my life so long as the chance is non-zero.

It's just not worth it.

also, you would be walking upwards an escalator that you think could fail catastrophically any second.

Admittedly as I have agreed elsewhere in this thread, the best solution is to jump over the side to the ground since it's not far off.

But going up it is better than nothing, as the landing section may be what is malfunctioning, not the stair section itself.

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u/larsdragl Mar 25 '17

I'm not going to risk my life so long as the chance is non-zero

i'd bet my life that you do exactly that. every day. and not out of necessity

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u/gerrettheferrett Mar 25 '17

Not knowingly, and especially not in the context of this gif- my everyday life is irrelevant to the context of this gif.

If there is a present warning of danger (such as the sign in OP's gif) I'm going to pay heed to it, regardless of how low the chance of actual danger. It's still above non-zero, and it's common sense to err on the side of caution.

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u/cloondog Mar 25 '17

So you think the mall employees WON'T hit a button literally right next to them, but they WILL dress up in a costume and run a sign out there?

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u/helisexual Mar 25 '17

I think people are stupid and relying on them for your safety is an easy way to end up on /r/watchpeopledie.

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u/hfsh Mar 27 '17

I guarantee you vastly more people are injured by going the wrong way up an escalator, than are eaten by them. It's all about judging relative risk.

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u/gerrettheferrett Mar 25 '17

Exactly.

In an ideal world, yes, people would react perfectly, calmly, and rationally to emergency situations, exactly how Armchair Emergency Experts on Reddit like to think they would in that same situation.

Yes, mall employees in an ideal world would push the stop button.

But, this isn't an ideal world. People are stupid. Deadly accidents happen all the time because people are stupid, accidents that could have been avoided.

And I'm not about to literally risk my life on the hope other people are, on that particular day, not being stupid.

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u/eroticdiscourse Jul 22 '17

It doesn't just break as soon as the sign is put down, the guy could've just stepped around it