If You Can’t Afford To Recharge Your Fire Extinguisher, Should You Even Be In Business?

I was bartending on a busy night, and this concerned older woman began waving me down at the end of the bar.

Woman: “There’s a fire outside!”

I could see a billowing plume of smoke outside the window.

Without hesitation, I jumped the bar, grabbed the fire extinguisher, and raced out the door. There was a small fire with a couple of people standing around, including a clueless segway mall cop on his radio.

I popped the fire extinguisher’s safety tab and flushed the fire out before it could spread further. Someone had apparently tossed their lit cigarette into the wood chips, and I got it right before the fire reached the bushes.

It really wasn’t a big deal, but I got a few claps and thank-yous… except from my manager. After asking me what happened, he shook his head.

Manager: “Since the fire was outside the restaurant, it was the mall’s jurisdiction and responsibility. It’s going to cost us $50 to recharge the fire extinguisher!”

I’m not a petty person, but it sure felt satisfying when I walked off the job a month later after another one of this manager’s misanthropic decisions.