I have been thinking of starting this one for awhile, and I keep coming back to the recurring theme of stupid people annoy me. My days tend to be rather non-descript for the most part until I run into someone who missed the brain line, or their handywork.
Today it was at work. I had a simple task. Test a fire alarm system in a small alternative school and fill out the paperwork for the yearly test to appease the fire-marshal. I do this all the time. This one started easy, (once I found the right building, the facility is deceptively large from the street.) Everything was going smooth, smoke detectors were responding to the fake smoke nicely, pull stations working, panel operated on back-up power properly. I was about to see the light at the end of the tunnel on my short Friday, when I had a pull station that didn't respond. Then, another, and another. 3 of them. Since I knew all the smoke detectors operated on the same loop, I made the assumption that it would be an easy fix,with just a lose wire connection somewhere. Boy was I wrong. I took apart all 3 ,along with the nearest operational device. Whoever originally set it up did not follow typical industry accepted wiring practices. WHY WOULD YOU DO THIS I said to myself. (along with many other non G-rated thoughts) Normal practice is pretty logical red goes to red black goes to black etc. I understand that some wire manufacturers use different combinations of colors in multi-conductor, which is fine,but at least keep all that are the same consistent. (if blue=red at point 1, blue should= red at point 2) it was completely random. So, what should have been a simple test turned into a fiasco and a return trip to finish solving the problem for me. THANKS PRIOR IDIOT.
On the bright side, I got home and got ready to go help the wife babysit 4 children for some good friends of ours, They were very good, went to bed with no problems and I had a peaceful evening as the wife fell asleep on the couch. :)
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