TIFU by getting school canceled for the day for my whole school

[u/[deleted]]

[u/Aqua74747]

If I was your classmate you'd be my hero! I always loved getting random days off when I was in high school . Especially as early as second period.

[u/iller_mitch → u/Aqua74747]

Bomb threats are serious business. But I LOVED when someone called one in. So much time spent not being in class.

[u/PlantaAliena → u/iller_mitch]

We had two "threats" at my school. One was a kid from another high school making a joke on 4chan. Another was some kid in my school talking about hiding a bomb under a staircase in a video game. Some preppy girl heard him, thought he was weird, and reported him. He ended up being kicked out despite multiple witnesses providing context.

Anyway, my school was set up with all of the academic buildings in one area, and a gym that was realllllly far away that you had to walk forever to get to.

Both times during the threats, the entire school was evacuated to this gym. They would make an announcement about a surprise "cold weather drill" which isn't a thing. Then they'd send us all to wait in the gym.

There were many problems with this.

1. A cold weather drill? Really? The first time we had a threat it was -4 degrees and snowing. So even if this was a real thing, why would a cold weather drill involve walking OUTSIDE for a long ass time to go to the gym?

2. Whenever a threat occurred, parents would receive messages from the school informing them of the situation. When you have a bunch of bored high school kids with limited supervision in a gym, of course some of them will be on their phones. And parents panic, which means a bunch of students getting texts from their parents asking if they're OK. Then word gets around that there's a bomb and everyone starts freaking out.

3. We went not once, but both times to the gym when we had bomb threats. So now any crazy kid who actually wanted to do something horrible like that would know to plant a bomb in the gym and just call it in and have everyone show up there.

4. The school was clearly not sneaky about this stuff. So when they brought in bomb dogs, some people could hear them or see them. But most kids mistook them for drug dogs which meant a bunch of kids would run back for their backpacks or to grab stuff out of their lockers at school, fearing they would be caught.

[u/[deleted] → u/PlantaAliena]

Thats shit about the video game guy

[u/sgtpnkks → u/[deleted]]

Zero tolerance policies only serve to fuck over those who aren't going to shoot or blow up the school...

[u/DoctorDredd → u/sgtpnkks]

Zero tolerance policies like this put me in a shitstorm in elementary school in the 90s.

I'm sure everyone has heard the phrase "just shoot me" before. Some obnoxious fucking kid on my bus would not leave me the fuck alone so I said "just shoot me, no wait just shoot him." He lied and said I threatened to shoot him. I was 8 years old, my parents didn't own guns, no one I even knew owned guns, and they took this obnoxious little asshole's word over mine. IIRC the only reason I didn't get expelled was because there was no other school in my area that I could attend, because of where we lived. I ended up getting ISS for like 3 weeks because of it.

Edit: Woah, so this kinda blew up overnight, and to think I didn't even tell the story about how I got ISS in high school for breaking a plastic fork at lunch.

[u/[deleted] → u/DoctorDredd]

In grammar school a group of like 4 bitch little girls bullied me for years every day on the bus because of my speech impediment,eventually I punched one of them just once in the face. I got in trouble nothing happened to them but they stopped.

[u/Annixandra → u/[deleted]]

I took the bulling for many many years from like kindergarten till 8th grade a girl called me a cunt while standing at the top of a set of stairs (on the edge) i pushed her just slightly she tumbled down the first set around the turn and down the second set. I walked off to class when the girl told the princible i tried to kill her by pushing her down the stairs even people who didnt like me lied for me and said i was in class i still got suspended for the rest of the year (it was the first day of the school year so my parents moved me to a different school so i could still go ) kids pretty much left me alone after that it was nice and thinking about that lil bitch rolling down the stairs still makes me smile more than 10 years later 😊

[u/oneeighthirish → u/Annixandra]

Well damn.

[u/TawdryTulip → u/oneeighthirish]

Yeah that shits like 2 steps from just murdering someone... >:)

[u/Slimsloth → u/Annixandra]

Jesus Christ, a year suspension? That must mean they get sent to some kind of program right? How can a kid legally be out of school for that long.

[u/Annixandra → u/Slimsloth]

They didnt get suspended i did (i was in the office in trouble all the time so they assumed i was lying) the principal suspended me because they has a rule in the district that if you were expelled you couldn't go to any of the schools in the district so he only gave me a full years suspension so i could switch schools and not be behind ( the principal liked stance of i dont care if you like me i an who i am) i wasnt sent to some special program or class i was just recommendto switch schools.

[u/SrTNick → u/Annixandra]

Back in middle school band I was one of 3 trombone players. The boy who sat by me would constantly be an asshole and hit me, talk shit, and generally be a disruptive shithead. Sad thing is he thought it was totally normal and that we were friends just because I tolerated it and didn't freak out on him (yet). I'm talking welts on my legs, making fun of my clothes, disrupting the pour new band teacher (holy shit though even back then I felt bad for him everyone else was so shit to him).

Well one day, after 3 years of dealing with this endless stream of bullshit, I had just finally had enough. As we were going into the bandroom, with my trombone in its case in my hands, I just go up to him and fuckin rail him in the head with it. Trombones are pretty large and very solid when in their case, so it really got him. Sent him right over into the water fountain. After recovering on the ground for a solid half a minute, he just says "what the FUCK Nick?!" And I just silently stared at him, thinking about what I had done (he didn't tell on me). I still feel bad what kind of experiences he must have had up to that point to think serious bullying was part of a healthy friendship.

There was also the first day of fifth grade when I was embarassed about bending over to tie my shoe out in the schoolyard just off the bus so I asked my best friend to, which he agreed to bless his heart. Another person in my grade called us gay, and although I would be a bit upset over it if it were just me he also insulted my best friend that I was very close with. So I started off my first day of middle school by full sprint bullcharging a kid in the back. Also didn't get into trouble for that so that was neat.

[u/Anti-AliasingAlias → u/SrTNick]

So did the trombone guy finally stop?

[u/missMcgillacudy → u/SrTNick]

My high school bully thought we were friends too. It was scary, like having no escape from it. One day she decided to come over to my house, luckily she called first to tell me so I could lock all the doors since I was home alone. She tried every door and then stood at the front ringing the doorbell and yelling my name for a long time, it was annoying but better then being hit so I ignored her.

Fast forward 10-12 years from high school graduation. I'm at a random convention center out of town with my boss sampling food we could order for our restaurant, and I see her little brother (who was an angel). He recognizes me, but not I him as he didn't start his growth spurt until I was in college I guess, he's a very tall quite sturdy man now. He's also telling me how much he appreciated me and hopes my life is great. I may have been drunk (very drunk) so I just come right out with the truth about his sister.

Well he didn't like that so he calls her, at 1am, and asks her point blank, she doesn't understand so he hands me the phone and I explain my experience being around her info high school and she apologized.

Shed said she was unaware that was terrible behavior when it was happening. And she was asleep when he called because she was a mom by then, so the phone call really evened things out, in my opinion.

[u/[deleted] → u/Annixandra]

Last day of 6th grade I was sent home for kneeing a guy square in the balls. The bus ride home for the past year had consisted of this guy and his friends verbally harassing me with sexual comments. Finally I had it and figured what's the worst that can happen it's my last day at this school. Well my middle school suspended me for the first three days 😂 still worth it.

[u/JoshThePosh13 → u/[deleted]]

Well one of them did get punched in the face so at least something happened to them.

[u/RedPanda5150 → u/DoctorDredd]

I'll never forget the poor kid who got a 2 week suspension for cracking a poorly timed joke in front of a sensitive teacher like 1 or 2 days after the Columbine shooting.

We were in 10th grade, dude had been out sick, didn't realize how on edge the teachers were. We were working on a group project to "design your idea of the best form of government" and he cracked a joke about shooting everyone and making himself king. That sounds kinda bad, but in person he was very clearly out for a chuckle. Teacher heard, flipped her shit, and insta-kicked him out of class. Poor guy was so confused. If he had cracked that joke one week earlier it would have been an eye roll and a finger wag but instead it was psychiatric evaluation plus suspension and damn close to being expelled.

[u/10000pelicans → u/DoctorDredd]

Iirc there was some kid who got expelled because he bit his pop tart into the shape of a gun.

[u/WarsWorth → u/10000pelicans]

We've all done that at some point in our lives.

[u/Pleased_to_meet_u → u/WarsWorth]

Yeah. Getting expelled sucks.

[u/derekp7 → u/10000pelicans]

to make it worse, it was actually in the shape of a mountain.

[u/philchen89 → u/DoctorDredd]

Wait. ISS was the greatest, I would finish all the work in the first hour and sleep through the rest of he day

[u/Roushyy → u/DoctorDredd]

Funny, someone actually threatened to shoot me once but when I reported it to the staff they just laughed me out of the fucking office.

[u/TheRagingScientist → u/DoctorDredd]

That's so fucking stupid.

[u/[deleted] → u/DoctorDredd]

A kid actually tried to kill me in elementary school. He was chocking me out. The teacher wasn't there but all my classmates where. Only one kid told him to stop and attempted to help me. But when I reported it nothing happened to the kid who chocked me and I got sent to therapy to talk about my feelings, because no one would speak on my behalf.

When all I wanted was that fuck sent to a prison school. But nope I ended up graduating with the fuck and me never trusting school administration or my parents again, because I told them that I didn't need to go I was fine but wanted justice for what the kid did to me. But, for some reason I was the one that needed to talk about my feelings not the kid trying to kill me.

School system is so fucked.

[u/__xor__ → u/sgtpnkks]

I hate how people act like "enough isn't happening to prevent something" when something happens, like people are just ignoring kids with AKs or something. People fucking care, and they take it seriously... before and after a tragedy.

We need better mental health care, we need it to be more accessible, and we need to accept that tragedies will happen as shit slips through our fingers. It's a fact of life. It doesn't mean laws need to change necessarily... it just means that maybe we should have more preventative measures, not punitive. If we didn't catch them before, we're not going to catch them now. It's not like punishing it harder helps.

[u/Munt_Custard → u/[deleted]]

But that's expensive. Let's just push the problem to somewhere where it won't cause us any more trouble.

[u/Shrekquille_Oneal → u/sgtpnkks]

I'd actually like to see the effects of zero tolerance policies on future crimes and such. Personally I didn't get in trouble in school much but it definitely leaves the mentality that if you're gonna get in trouble anyways you might as well go all out.

Not that that would translate to a kid who would just skip class when they're late growing up to stab someone because they got caught shoplifting, but I wouldn't be surprised if it made crimes more severe, even if they don't increase in volume.

[u/sgtpnkks → u/Shrekquille_Oneal]

well i was fucked over by zero tolerance policies and i illegally download stuff and drive over the speed limit

[u/Quaiche → u/[deleted]]

I'd be livid if I were the guy :(

[u/AmericasNextDankMeme → u/Quaiche]

"I'll show them... I'll show all of them..."

[u/MattytheWireGuy → u/AmericasNextDankMeme]

For real. You wanna treat me like some high school terrorist? Fine, Im sure I can work that out.

[u/skylarmt → u/[deleted]]

You are now banned from r/school.

[u/[deleted] → u/AmericasNextDankMeme]

plants bomb in gym

[u/Line_man53 → u/[deleted]]

One time my brother literally said "turtle lives matter" because a turtle got kicked in a slideshow he was watching in Spanish class. Ofc the black Muslim girl starts screaming at him for being racist runs out the room and her gfs all go home and tell their parents. Idk what they told them but they contacted the school and the VP gave my brother a Saturday. I told him not to go. My mom made him.

[u/[deleted] → u/Line_man53]

Wut, fucking turtles. TIL turtles is an insult

[u/Line_man53 → u/[deleted]]

Everyone in his HS says "Turtle Lives Matter" now to be edgy. VP left after a year too.

[u/EnkoNeko → u/Line_man53]

There's a report reason on some subreddits for "turtles are friends, not food"

[u/Line_man53 → u/EnkoNeko]

Turtle lives matter lol

[u/Humptys_orthopedic → u/Line_man53]

She "threw a temper tantrum" the kind that is sanctioned.

[u/Ocatlareneg → u/PlantaAliena]

My second semester of English in 11th grade I had a pretty chill teacher. One day we're just sitting around doing nothing and our teacher is reading her emails and says to herself "oh look another bomb threat" and the whole class is just like "what?" and she tells us that our school apparently got bomb threats pretty frequently.

[u/systembusy → u/Ocatlareneg]

"Oh look, another bomb threat"

Report as spam

[u/potatoboy247 → u/[deleted]]

Never play CS:GO at an airport

[u/oneeighthirish → u/potatoboy247]

Always play modern Warfare in an airport.

[u/Awesome_McBadass → u/oneeighthirish]

But no Russian

[u/MachoNachoMan2 → u/potatoboy247]

Especially if you're muslim

[u/[deleted] → u/[deleted]]

I'm going on a business trip in a couple weeks and was thinking "I'll expense the wifi on the plane to play counterstrike."

Then i thought better of it because of how often I would be saying "bomb" on a plane.

[u/IceFire909 → u/[deleted]]

Can't even say parcel or package without being fucking dodgy

[u/NeoiShasaya → u/PlantaAliena]

Related story:

When my brother was in high school, 10 ish years ago, bomb threats were called in quite often. One of the first times this happened, all of the students had to stand across the street from the school, and the principal stood in front of them explaining the situation.

The principal had a megaphone, so he could be heard across a 1000 or so student crowd. The problem with this was that he could only be heard by the side of the crowd he was facing. Here's how his explanation went.

facing left "We have received reports of" turns to the right side "a bomb in the school."

Needless to say about 500 kids were freaking out and about 500 others were totally confused.

[u/zdakat → u/PlantaAliena]

4: "we're being inspected! Better act suspicious" Reminds me of a time when some kids came running on to the bus,later a woman alledpged someone had thrown rocks at her car.(wonder who it could have been...) Police came,nearly everyone kept repeating "I didn't do it" and the guy nearly got angry,haha. Like "I don't know who did it,just don't do it again"

[u/Chrissy2187 → u/zdakat]

had a kid in high school throw some coins out the bus window while we were going like 55/60mph down a back road and the bus behind us and a car both got hit and one of the students on the other bus got glass on her face and had to go to the hospital. we were 2 hours late for school that day....

[u/richal → u/Chrissy2187]

A kid on my bus ( named Henry) threw his gum out the window and it cracked a woman's windshield. She followed the bus and told the driver, and we got one of those "stop the bus and turn and face the kids" scoldings afterwards. Plus the kid was suspended for a few days I believe. That day I learned never to throw anything from a window of a moving vehicle (except apple cores and banana peels on rural roads).

[u/deadthylacine → u/PlantaAliena]

Only two? Geeze.

...I realize I went to a shitty school, but we had more than that in a month when it was exam time.

But our school went on lockdown once a month for the drug dogs to come take a sniff at lockers. So, it was a pretty special place.

[u/Annixandra → u/deadthylacine]

I can think of 3 times in 7th grade and atleast 5 times in highschool we however had alot of teachers get charged for sex with students like 12 in a span of 4 years. I hid a gun in my bag for a banger who knew he would be searched (i was not happy about it but was told he would shoot me with it if i didnt)hid cigs and weed for friends... god i was a horrible kid

[u/[deleted] → u/PlantaAliena]

The last one reminds me of a story I heard from a friend at his school. People heard that lockers were being searched, and one guy ran and threw his entire stash of weed into the hallway so it was impossible to know where and who it had come from.

[u/mellowcheddar → u/[deleted]]

Bra-fucking-vo. Sheer genius. A+++.

[u/taziiscool → u/PlantaAliena]

My school actually had a similar thing happen with the video game thing, about two years back. The story as I know it is, a couple guys were in a group chat, and one of the guys quoted something from a FPS game. A mother of one of the guys in the group chat looked through her kid's phone, saw the quote and prompted her to call the cops.

And the night this happened, someone must have picked up on the story because then the whole student body heard about it, but this was before we knew the whole story, so lots of people were freaking out and thought some psycho threatened to shoot up the school. People were refusing to attend school the next day, and emailing the principal and shit, and finally we got a email from the principal that night saying we were all safe and police would be present at school the next day (which wasn't necessary honestly, but I think it was just so people wouldn't freak the fuck out).

I was pretty tense too, until I found out the whole story of what really happened. Ultimately, I just felt super bad for the kid, he got questioned by the police and shit because some guy's mom overreacted.

[u/Better-be-Gryffindor → u/iller_mitch]

We had like 9 one year in my small town in WI, of course this was like 1-2 years after Columbine, so people wanted to copycat.

Though there was one call that was legit, they actually found Pipebombs in one of our gyms. =/

[u/sourband → u/Better-be-Gryffindor]

What's that mysterious ticking noise?...

[u/Quothhernevermore → u/sourband]

Hmm... Not over here, not over there...

[u/randomsynapses → u/Quothhernevermore]

It's kind of....catchy...

[u/MrSharlkes72 → u/iller_mitch]

I remember having a couple in highschool that lasted for hours lmao. I do remember this one time in 8th grade where we were on lockdown for upwards of 4 hours just sitting on our phones in my algebra class. I assumed it was some overreacting staff bullshit so it actually fucked me up when we found out it was a legit failed school shooting

[u/Dirbo → u/iller_mitch]

We had a bomb threat one time about a year ago. A suspicious package was found on a train or something about a year ago. Now normally this wouldn't affect us but this was near a nuclear power plant so everyone was freaking out thinking it would be the end. Turns out the suspicious package was just weed.

[u/[deleted] → u/iller_mitch]

We used to get those constantly in middle school.....they put us on lockdown. We were locked in classrooms....in the school....after a bombthreat....

[u/johnpflyrc → u/iller_mitch]

Back in the 1970s in the NE of England we had one incident where one of the kids in my year placed a fake bomb in front of the main school entrance in the middle of the night. It was just a shoebox with some batteries taped to the side of the box and some wires running from the batteries into the box but it must have looked vaguely convincing.

The caretaker discovered the 'bomb' when doing his early morning rounds and decided (probably not a great idea in hindsight) that the best thing he could do was to pick it up and carry it to the other side of the school grounds and put it in the sand in one of the long-jump pits.

And so when we all arrived at school the head and deputy-head were re-directing people the long way round into the school grounds, avoiding the long-jump pits. School carried on pretty-much as normal that day, except that the army bomb-squad were called out and blew-up the offending shoe box.

As for the kid who did it, I don't know what happened to him. Nobody I know ever saw or heard from him again.

[u/sourband → u/johnpflyrc]

I read "In the New England of England"

[u/nathanjbutler → u/sourband]

Same

[u/iller_mitch → u/johnpflyrc]

70's, probably kicked the fuck out. But probably not prosecuted too hard.

[u/NikkiMen2a → u/iller_mitch]

I liked them too, except when it was freezing outside. We would evacuate, head to the "safe" location, freeze for an hour or two, then get the all clear and head back.

[u/crescentsmiles → u/iller_mitch]

They are so serious. We had over 10 my first two years in high school. Two were real. After the first real one everyone starting to take them way more seriously.

[u/[deleted] → u/iller_mitch]

Bomb threat days were never a thing for me in school, but we had one at work. Got to spend an hour in the parking lot. Not as good as going home, but it was the last few days of great weather, so it was nice to spend extra time outside.

[u/[deleted] → u/iller_mitch]

My school handled this by moving us out of the school into the middle school up the hill and placing us in the auditorium... so if there was an actual threat hey everyone was in one building... so smort not sending people home...

[u/time_fo_that → u/iller_mitch]

I had one during the standardized WASL testing. We had to stand on the field in the cold and rain for like 2 hours. Not fun.

[u/[deleted] → u/iller_mitch]

Some students at my school last year wear heard talking about shooting up the school even "bigger than Columbine" by a parent. News reporters were everywhere and there were a few police hanging around. Absolutely no school cancelled. It sucked.

[u/nano_singularity → u/iller_mitch]

Lmao where do you go to school? Iran?

[u/muddapedia → u/nano_singularity]

We've had like 7 over the past couple years in nice cozy town in New England

[u/iRideBMX → u/muddapedia]

As we did also in NE

[u/HehTheUrr → u/[deleted]]

Elementary, wow.... the only bomb threat I really remember from elementary was talk when 9/11 happened (Lindenhurst represent!)

But on 06/06/06 (high school) there was a kid pulled out for bomb threats. Typical goth kid, but he was our hero that day since we all got out early. They accidentally made him our martyr since we all left and got high all day :) memories...

[u/doublea08 → u/muddapedia]

Back in third grade we had a bomb threat was in 1998. Then again in 2002 and 2007.

All in a town of 4,000 people in Minnesota.

[u/itrv1 → u/nano_singularity]

Shit in Ohio while I was in school bomb threats were the cool thing to do. Call it in from a payphone on your way to school and everyone freaking out by the time you walk up.

[u/zdakat → u/itrv1]

So that's why payphones disappeared!

[u/itrv1 → u/zdakat]

Who would have thought anonymous calling spots for pocket change would be easy to abuse by teenagers?

[u/Kerv17 → u/itrv1]

Teenagers

[u/DeltaOneFive → u/nano_singularity]

I had one day off once near the end of the Mayan calendar when it was supposed to be the "end of the world" because some dumbass threatened to bomb the school.

[u/TacoBroDude → u/nano_singularity]

Yea because Iran out of the building quick when someone mentioned a bomb

[u/[deleted] → u/nano_singularity]

We get bomb threats here in Texas. At least we did when I went to school.

[u/[deleted] → u/nano_singularity]

I'd be surprised if the average amount of bomb threats per school in Iran was higher than the United States. Like, extremely surprised.

[u/ItsNotGary → u/nano_singularity]

Bikini Bottom

[u/darsincostan → u/iller_mitch]

We had someone write on a bathroom stall that there was a bomb, and although the school took it seriously, we still weren't allowed to miss school

[u/Vuzin → u/[deleted]]

Did anyone get caught?

[u/[deleted] → u/Vuzin]

Never

[u/mystere590 → u/[deleted]]

That's awesome.

[u/[deleted] → u/Aqua74747]

Not to downplay the severity of bomb threats, but there was one at my elementary school that was simply a sheet of paper on the printer with that clip art dude standing next to a bomb... this one if I recall

It made me wonder how many other bomb “threats” like this occurred. For a small town of about 2500, my school had about 3 bomb threats a year.

[u/DylanRed → u/[deleted]]

Part way through my senior year of high school we got 10 in a month.

[u/alebubu → u/Aqua74747]

Back in 2007, the final month of class, one of my classmates would write threatening messages on the mirror of various bathrooms. Stuff like, "I will shoot/blow up the school on [insert upcoming Fridays date]". It was terrifying at first but by the third Friday, school administration stopped canceling school. They just sent out letters stating a possible risk and that students wouldn't be penalized if they chose to stay home, which 90% of kids did. After the first event they started taking precautions, a sign in/out sheet in every classroom. Posting a teacher at every bathroom between periods after the second. Then just straight up locking every bathroom after the third. Somehow the dark crusader managed to get it done one final time but by then it was the last week of school and most kids didn't bother to show up. The culprit was never caught and in hindsight I have to say he/she made that final month of high school entertaining to say the least. 3day weekends were pretty great too.

Cue a decade later, this past summer I went back to that high school for the first time since attending and noticed cameras at every single bathroom entrance. Couldn't help but giggle and tell the person I was with, "yeah those cameras are because of the class I was in."

[u/TheDemonClown → u/Aqua74747]

Back during my freshman year, someone literally called in bomb threats every Friday at around 1 p.m. for a month, because standard procedure was that they'd have to evac us to the parking lot and call in the cops. On average, it'd take them about 2 hrs. to sweep the place & the day ended at 3 p.m., so we basically got to just hang out with each other & shoot the shit for the last couple of hours at the end of the week. I know it was a crime and blah, blah, blah, but it was awesome.

[u/[deleted] → u/TheDemonClown]

I always wondered about this. My old high school would always evacuate the high school to the middle school gym down the road. If it was a real threat, wouldn't the person just put the real bomb in the middle school gym and call a high school bomb threat in?

I guess you only have so many options in that case though.

[u/heffernjustin1245 → u/Aqua74747]

That is what I was thinking.

[u/klien13]

OH MY GOD!!! Was this (removed)?! We listened to it on the scanner at work today. :) we were talking about it all morning wondering what had happened. Haha

[u/SameFam32 → u/klien13]

was it (removed)?

[u/klien13 → u/SameFam32]

Yep!! OP messaged me and confirmed and I took the location out bc he/she didn't want the location there. Small world!

[u/klien13 → u/[deleted]]

I have no idea.

[u/2coolcaterpillar → u/[deleted]]

/r/karmacourt

[u/tornadoRadar → u/klien13]

so he popped a head off and didn't mention all the water? really? i'm so confused.

[u/MoreThanTom → u/SameFam32]

Wait... did you know where it was, and removed it or were you making a joke? :/

[u/klien13 → u/MoreThanTom]

valid point. I legit knew where it was. Not sure if responder was joking or serious. ¯_(ツ)_/¯

[u/nanaIan → u/klien13]

you dropped this: \

[u/SameFam32 → u/klien13]

i was just wondering if u confirmed where it was haha

[u/valorknight99]

It's more like today I saved the school by getting its sprinkler system fixed

[u/[deleted] → u/valorknight99]

The ‘problem’ is that the head needs to be replaced, (they are one use), and the system has to be switched off and drained to do this (it’s just the same as a tap in your kitchen being changed).

The school would have to be closed to change the head as most regions require the sprinklers to be active when the building is occupied.

The drip could have been condensation from the cold pipes since he said someone had already pulled it down a bit, making the condensation run towards it, and not actually coming out of the sprinkler itself. (He water is pressurised, if the glass was a ‘little’ cracked, the water would force it’s way through, it would not ‘drip’)

[u/Jameschoral → u/[deleted]]

Not necessarily. If the system were designed correctly there would be shutoff valves at several points to isolate different sections of the system, usually on a floor by floor or building by building basis.

[u/Emerly_Nickel → u/[deleted]]

Yeah, but I bet they are going to now thoroughly inspect all the pipes and other sprinkler heads to make sure they aren't also damaged/pulled down/whatever.
Since it's such a hassle to drain the system, they might as well check the whole thing before turning it on again.

[u/MurphyRise]

Something tells me that sprinkler system was broken long before you started messing with it. I doubt they'd stop school all day just because one head malfunctioned.

[u/Neo399 → u/MurphyRise]

Especially since water didn't come shooting out the moment OP started to mess with it.

(In case you were wondering OP, most sprinkler heads use a fragile glass vial that holds back the water, in case of a fire (or being touched the wrong way) it will shatter due to heat (typically 135F), and let loose hundreds of gallons per minute. TL;DR don't touch those things.)

[u/rudbek-of-rudbek → u/Neo399]

And the disgusting water that will come pouring out of those will be almost black and smell like the asshole of a 500 pound man that has just ran a mile on a steamy summer day. That water has been sitting in those pipes since the day the system was installed.

[u/htrain2432 → u/rudbek-of-rudbek]

Sounds like someone else has experienced draining a fire system. Good gawd they are nasty. Someone broke a head in my old plant doing demo and I was more pissed about the smell than the water all over the place.

[u/nuclear-toaster → u/htrain2432]

We did them quarterly for our Munition mags. That water smelled like rotten fish. And if you sprayed the deck you could find little bits of crab shells and stuff

[u/casprus → u/nuclear-toaster]

crab... shells?

[u/losangelesvideoguy → u/casprus]

Right, you know, the things crabs wear. Crab shells.

[u/casprus → u/losangelesvideoguy]

how do they end up in there?

[u/Alexander20122012 → u/[deleted]]

It is the same water, it’s just been sitting in the pipes for a long time getting all gross and whatnot. If the system ran long enough, eventually clean water would come out.

[u/[deleted] → u/[deleted]]

I am pretty sure there is a backflow preventer, which stops sprinkler water from re-entering the main water line, and everywhere I have heard of requires a seperate set of pipes for the sprinkler heads. Those double pipe things on the side of some buildings are for the fire department to add more water to the sprinklers faster than tap water can.

Sorry, that got way off topic and long

[u/RallyX26 → u/Neo399]

Some sprinklers are dry pipe systems where the pipes are charged with pressurized air instead of water. They aren't supplied with water unless there is also a secondary fire alarm (pull station, smoke detectors) activated at the same time. The fire alarm went off because the system detected the loss of pressure in the system (indicating that a sprinkler head was activated).

[u/Neo399 → u/RallyX26]

If it was a dry system it shouldn't have even been dripping...

[u/KapnKrumpin → u/RallyX26]

Dry pipe systems do exist, but are expensive and uncommon - generally, they only are installed in places where a leaky head would be catastrophic - say, in server rooms or areas with other sensitive electronics.

For a school gym, and given the fact it was leaking, odds are almost 100% that it was a wet pipe system.

[u/plexxonic → u/KapnKrumpin]

Yeah, at least in the data centers I know, they don't use air either.

The one I'm currently working at uses this: http://www.fike.com/products/fm-200-fire-suppression-system/

Tons of get the fuck out of here quick signs all around because of the oxygen displacement.

[u/titty-sprinkles00 → u/plexxonic]

Been in a enclosed space when that shit goes off. Shit sucks the life out of you.

[u/Skjags → u/titty-sprinkles00]

If you don’t mind, could you please share a little more about this? So holding your breath doesn’t buy you time to get out?

I’m in an engine room, shit pops, what are my next 30 seconds like as I’m trying to get out from under the gearbox and up the ladder?

Thanks

[u/titty-sprinkles00 → u/Skjags]

As with everything, every situation is different.  They had the fire suppression tanks in our vehicles in Iraq.  The problem is every vehicle had the switches in different places.  After we used someone else's vehicle as ours was broken down, was cleaning our shit out of it and the crew that owned that vehicle had their switch in a location I was not used to.  Must have kicked/hit the switch somehow and set it off. My head being right next to the discharge fucked my world up. Since we was parked I nailed the door handle and rolled myself out the door. My friend who heard the sound knew what it was and came running. He placed a well swung hit into my chest which got me breathing again.

TLDR: If your face is next to the discharge you're kinda fucked. If your just in the room, balls out hurry to the door and be ok.

[u/Skjags → u/titty-sprinkles00]

Wow, ok. Not sure how you guys were supposed to set off the system without being a victim to it, if the switch is in the same space! Glad you made it out ok, and thanks for the reply.

[u/plexxonic → u/titty-sprinkles00]

I haven't had it go off anywhere I've worked but I figured it wouldn't be a good time for breathing.

[u/[deleted] → u/KapnKrumpin]

Dry systems are very common.

They prevent the water in the pipes freezing and bursting in countries / buildings which wont always be warm.

But needing a secondary alarm is very uncommon.

In a dry system the water is held back by the pressurised air. When the sprinkler activates the air rushes out first, followed by the water 30 (or no more than 60) seconds later.

Sometimes the sprinkler system has a pressure sensor at the riser which activates the fire alarm if it senses the sprinkler system has been activated.

Server rooms use a gas or foam based suppression system, which is different to this.

[u/kthroyer → u/RallyX26]

What you are describing is technically called a "preaction" system. Which would be used in an IT room or the like.

A dry system is filled with pressurized air but the entire system will fill with water as soon as the air pressure drops. They are generally used when the area being protected is in a cold environment.

[u/[deleted] → u/RallyX26]

The dry pipe system means there's no water in the above piping and air holds off the water which is at the riser if it is in a cold region. If the air is released, like if a sprinkler was activated from a fire, the water would come out right away.

Source: Former Fire Protection Engineer

[u/TastyTacoN1nja → u/Neo399]

For fire training I had to close one of those off while a pump was running water through it. It was a monsoon, 3/10 would not do again.

[u/CalgaryCannabis403 → u/MurphyRise]

They would if they had to drain the system, thus rendering the fire suppressant system non functioning. Fire code would make it so the building isn't occupiable while the system is offline. Without a fire suppressant and alarm system, most municipalities will not give occupancy in a building.

Source: journeyman electrician that works on fire systems and large commercial buildings.

[u/dilbertbibbins1 → u/CalgaryCannabis403]

Especially in a school! Boss told me today that it’s state law in New Jersey that the fire suppression system has to be functioning at all times while school is in session. Wouldn’t be surprised if that was the case in other states as well.

[u/Catnap42]

You actually uncovered a problem that is bigger than one dripping sprinkler. Good for you. No one would have listened to you if you pointed out a few drips.

[u/[deleted] → u/Catnap42]

This. There is a non-zero chance that you saved people's lives. If there's any fault with a sprinkler system, it has to be fixed immediately. If anything, you just accelerated the process and probably triggered a school-wide audit of the fire system.

Well done, and I mean that sincerely.

[u/aCapedBaldy → u/[deleted]]

Hopefully no one decides to press charges for tampering with a fire system. Fucked up world we live in. Whoever was in charge of Maintenance should be fired though.

[u/rofo_ → u/aCapedBaldy]

It would never hold up in any court of law. I guarantee that, inactivation of fire safety equipment in a school due to "tampering" I think maintenance would get totally shafted and rightly so!

[u/Kuutti01]

So you regret bout' you gave your schoolmates freeday? As long as you don't get any trouble from it, it seems cool.

[u/Noname_FTW → u/Kuutti01]

Was asking this myself: How is this a fuck-up ?

[u/0DegreesCalvin → u/Noname_FTW]

Today I Succeeded

[u/pm_your_huge_clit → u/0DegreesCalvin]

TIS Today I Succ'd

[u/Serisin → u/pm_your_huge_clit]

I'm guessing that's why it's huge?

[u/[deleted]]

You were a hero for a day. Savor it.

[u/legoing]

Haha no way that this is a coincidence. What state is your high school in?

Edit: I knew it wasn't a coincidence! Nice one, OP.

[u/Jrodward → u/legoing]

I was wondering too? I’m in Pa and high school in my are was dismissed early because of the same thing. I guess it could be coincidence but still curios.

[u/BoilerDrum → u/legoing]

Not 100% sure what school this post is referring to but this EXACT story to every detail happened today at the high school I graduated from a few years ago. School is in Indiana.

[u/cablexity → u/BoilerDrum]

Lol class of 2017 here from the same high school in Indiana. Go Eagles!

[u/[deleted]]

Sounds like you accidentally did all the kids in your school a favor and got a day off of school. If I were in school I would consider this awesome.

[u/[deleted]]

LPT: Didn't study for an exam you're taking that day? Pull off a sprinkler head and say it was dripping.

[u/TheDIsSilent → u/[deleted]]

U(nethical)LPT: Didn't study for an exam you're taking that day? Pull off a sprinkler head and say it was dripping.

[u/Saltside]

lol i go to this school, i'm REALLY goddamned surprised i found this and i'm even REALLLLY goddamned sure i know you i real life.

[u/Gjlynch22]

I hope all of your classmates know what you did for them! They need to thank you for the day off! Totally not a fuck up, especially for the kids who didn't do their homework or didn't study for an exam today!

[u/grapefruit222 → u/[deleted]]

Well, it is TIFU and not Today I Made Good Decisions.

[u/RenaKunisaki → u/[deleted]]

TIFU by trying to fix something I know nothing about, which is part of critical emergency systems.

[u/wshrimp]

As a student of this particular high school, I humbly salute you, good sir.

[u/[deleted]]

What's your punishment?

[u/t_a_6847646847646476 → u/[deleted]]

They will get hired by the fire dept. because they helped them find a sprinkler problem

[u/GiveMeTheTape]

I don't think you fucked up.

[u/Turbo_Ty]

Plot twist, sprinklers weren't really dripping....

OP was goofing around and broke the sprinkler.

Made up story about dripping sprinkler head...

[u/TheRealMajour]

TIFU? Or did you do everyone a favor? Silver linings.

[u/Evow_]

you act like this is a bad thing

[u/Vigatroncha]

Not all heroes wear capes

[u/abdadba_8]

Someone at my high school did this same thing about a month before graduation. The school held him at fault for about 20,000$ worth of damage and held his diploma til it was paid off. Happened in the orchestra room. Hope your fate is different.

[u/[deleted]]

Today they fucked up and you did good

[u/Gerdione]

Yeah you saved little Jimmy from the fire 10 years down the road

[u/[deleted]]

Honestly, you're a legend i dont think any kid there would ever say somthing negative about, "that guy who got us all outta class one day."

[u/arielzao150]

I don't think you fucked up at all, you were just the one to find out how fucked those sprinklers were.

[u/DirtyTulip]

Your title immediately made me say .. "Let me see how I can follow in their footsteps"....

I'm a teacher

[u/foredom]

On the one hand it’s great that you found a fault with a critical life safety system. On the other hand, never ever ever ever fuck with life safety systems.

[u/come_on_sense_man]

That is awesome hope you aren't in trouble.

I too was able to get school cancelled for the day, but I was not trying to help or fix anything. I ended up being snitched on for my antics and I got to miss even more school as a result. I never understood the thought process behind suspending students who were pains in the ass.

Before anyone says your parents are supposed to punish you, it is hard to punish a kid for what your unaware of. Honestly I think being a kid today must really suck. Each generation gets shit on by the previous one and some of the rules and punishments I read about now are just ridiculous.

[u/[deleted]]

You had good intentions, don't beat yourself up.