When I was working for Xerox I noticed smoke apparently coming from a chemical store room. I was thinking of pulling the fire alarm until a coworker wanted to do it. So I let him.
This set off the fire alarm and evacuated the building. The response team couldn't find the source of the smoke that was rapidly dispersing. They looked in the chemical store room (they had all the keys) but found nothing. Finally someone took apart the exit sign that was just outside the door and discovered that the ballast had caught fire.
No one got in trouble for this as it seemed a legitimate emergency.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
