I'm currently staying at the 4 Points in HSV. At 1:30 this morning the fire alarm went off. After peeling myself off the ceiling I checked the peep hole - no smoke, but decided best bet to get out as I am on the top (6th) floor. As soon as I opened the door I was greeted with the smell of burnt popcorn. Proceeded down the stairs to hang out with 100 other annoyed people, but everyone took it in stride. After about 15 minutes they gave the all clear, and confirmed it was popcorn.

This morning I stopped by the desk to validate my parking and a guy was going off on the clerk. First he could not belive why this clerk did not know about the alarm (it was 7:01 - shift change), and why "nobody knew what to do at 1:27 am", "why did I have to wander the lobby with nobody to tell me what to do", "my heart was racing so bad I could not sleep the rest of the night" and having a general hissy fit.

I wanted to say I learned in first grade that when the fire alarm goes off you leave the building. I also know that I should not take the elevator down to the lobby. The fire stairs magically opened to the sidewalk outside where it would be easy to get away from the flames. Are people really this stupid, or was he just trolling for a free night?

Sounds like trolling for a free night to me. If I got a free night in the dorms every time someone burnt popcorn or pulled the alarm as part of fraternity initiation, my student loans would be a lot smaller! Even after being out of the dorms for several years, I'm still in the habit of leaving a set of clothes close to the bed for a quick escape.

Hear, hear! My dorm had the fire alarm going off three times in one night, and I was the fire warden

Yeah, for NYC fire codes and not evacuating when the alarm goes off in our dorm(which makes pranks pretty pointless).

Ah, but fire alarms in student halls were always far more fun. You got to find out who's sleeping with whom on the quiet...

Always fun to watch how many girls came out of the all-male dorm when the alarm went off!

All-male? Is that common? I've never known student residences to be single sex (other than the few shared rooms dotted about the place).

An oldie, but a goodie:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=289078

It's less common than it used to be. Most dorms at my undergraduate school were co-ed. I think the two single-sex buildings were holdovers from its military-school days. My current institution is in the process of building new dorms to replace those built in the 1960s. The old ones were single-sex, and I believe the new ones will be co-ed. I think most schools are going co-ed because the students expect it, and it provides more flexible use of the space.