Stuck In Residential Limbo

(I am a resident assistant in the biggest residence hall at my school. We have over 650 residents and 14 RAs. We have our first fire drill of the year, and most of the students are freshmen, so they have no idea what to do. We are supposed to get everyone out of the building and have them gather in a parking lot across the street. One resident is lingering by the parking gate with his friends.)

Me: “Hey, you gotta go to the back of the parking lot. If this was a real fire, we’d need to get as far away from the building as possible.”

Resident: “What if I don’t want to?”

Me: “Then you’d die, or get written up.”

(He seems to consider it for a moment.)

Resident: “What if I limbo there?”

Me: “Be my guest.”

(He tries to “limbo” under the parking gate, but it’s too low and he falls down.)

Me: *jokingly* “You failed. That’s a write-up.”

Resident: “Aw, darn.”

(He obligingly goes to the back of the parking lot with everyone else. The next day, I’m manning the front desk when the same resident comes up to swipe his card. When he sees me, he gets noticeably uncomfortable.)

Resident: “Hey, uh… are you really going to write me up for that?”

Me: “What? No, I was joking.”

Resident: “Oh, good! I was so scared, because you’re normally so nice, but it’s the nicest people who are always the scariest.”

(I decided to take that as a compliment.)