Each door has an infra-red sensor on the inside, and a pass-card reader on the outside. They're supposed to unlock when anyone walks up to them trying to get out, or when anyone waves a valid card at them wanting to get in.
The failure was apparently in the lock rather than the card reader, so they failed to unlock in either case.
(The IR sensors are good for a laugh at the end of the working day, too. Whenever I put my big black coat on, they suddenly have only a 50% chance of noticing me, presumably because the coat has been hanging on a hook all day and hence is at room temperature rather than body temperature.)
Ah, I see. That is unfortunate. I hope there were working fire doors just in case?
The IR sensors are good for a laugh at the end of the working day, too.
Stealth Simon! You've been watching too much Predator, except you're an ARM and free software designer rather than the ultimate military killing machine.
There's a fire door in the room I work in, but I don't think every room has one. So some people must have been genuinely trapped.
I've never actually seen Predator, although I think I sat in front of at least part of Predator 2 at one point without paying much attention. I assume the Predator does some similar sort of thing?
That might be less fun for the people on the first floor, but yes, there would have been a variety of ways out given enough motivation. I didn't really mean "trapped" in the sense of "really actually likely to starve to death in there if the locks don't start working again", more in the sense of "unable to get out without causing somebody a serious inconvenience, no matter who it turns out to be".
I assume the Predator does some similar sort of thing?
Yes, though the antecedants may be confused. The IR door lock represents the alien, the predator, who has heat vision. You represent Arnie. The coat represents implausibly high heat capacity river mud. All that's necessary is for you to smash the lock with your bare hands and it'd be perfect; you can't say you're not tempted.
It would, of course, be vastly more amusing (in a glad-I'm-a-long-way-away kind of way) if, for the sake of accuracy, the door also featured a thermonuclear self-destruct system keyed to activate in the unlikely event that anyone succeeded in escaping from the building.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
The failure was apparently in the lock rather than the card reader, so they failed to unlock in either case.
(The IR sensors are good for a laugh at the end of the working day, too. Whenever I put my big black coat on, they suddenly have only a 50% chance of noticing me, presumably because the coat has been hanging on a hook all day and hence is at room temperature rather than body temperature.)
The IR sensors are good for a laugh at the end of the working day, too.
Stealth Simon! You've been watching too much Predator, except you're an ARM and free software designer rather than the ultimate military killing machine.
I've never actually seen Predator, although I think I sat in front of at least part of Predator 2 at one point without paying much attention. I assume the Predator does some similar sort of thing?
Yes, though the antecedants may be confused. The IR door lock represents the alien, the predator, who has heat vision. You represent Arnie. The coat represents implausibly high heat capacity river mud. All that's necessary is for you to smash the lock with your bare hands and it'd be perfect; you can't say you're not tempted.
This is legal where you live?
Allowing for the possibility of trapping someone in case of a fire seems rather dodgy to me.
Of course, it's when the doors start saying "glad to be of service" that you have to start worrying in earnest.