Funny in Case of Emergency Break Glass Hammer Inside

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In Case of Emergency

Title text: I keep first aid kits in those emergency lockers. Sure, it's expensive to have them installed in the wall, but at least for those ones there's no need to pay extra for safety glass.

Explanation [edit]

Sometimes in order to deter vandalism or avoid accidentally moving/setting off something of importance, an important item like a fire extinguisher will be covered behind a wall of glass. "In case of emergency, break glass" - and retrieve the tool.

However the depicted situation is funny, because the thing behind the breakable glass is a glass repair kit. This is ironic, considering that the only way to reach it is by breaking the glass. One might even use it to fix the glass broken to get it... This joke is similar in nature to a Useless machine. However, the broken glass that needs to be repaired is an emergency situation, so it is important to have some less important glass to break, to be able to get to the important emergency glass repair kit. In this way it is not necessarily useless, just ironic.

In the title text Randall notes that he keeps his first aid kit in just such a type of emergency locker as shown in the comic. He complains that it is expensive to have them installed in the wall. But then the title text takes a gruesome turn when he continues by saying that at least for those lockers with first aid in them there is no need to pay extra for using safety glass for the cover. Safety glass doesn't break into sharp shards, so would be used for the cover of such an above-mentioned fire extinguisher cabinet, for instance, ensuring that the user will not cut themselves when breaking the glass to retrieve it. But Randall indirectly says that since the person breaking the glass will soon have access to a first aid kit then, if wounded in the process of breaking the normal window glass, they can as well be treated on the spot - so it will be OK to let them get injured.

First aid kits and for instance defibrillators can be found at frequent places such as bus stations and shopping malls, but never behind a glass that needs to be broken.

Transcript [edit]

[On a box behind a panel of glass, with a hammer hung below, is written:]

Glass repair kit

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Discussion

Just attempted my first transcript... 108.162.249.163 07:22, 25 January 2016 (UTC)

Can someone please explain the title text?? When I search for "emergency locker" on google images, I get some disconcerting results... 198.41.243.238 08:20, 25 January 2016 (UTC)

Probably means something like this: http://www.amazon.co.uk/St-John-Ambulance-Lockable-Cabinet/dp/B003KK6948 Jdluk (talk) 09:36, 25 January 2016 (UTC)

He clearly means something with glass in front of the locker inside. I have in vain tried to find anything like it on the web. --Kynde (talk) 15:07, 25 January 2016 (UTC)

Try http://www.uline.com/Product/Detail/H-2122/Fire-Protection/Fire-Extinguisher-Cabinet-2-1-2-5-lb or https://www.grainger.com/product/ALTA-Fire-Extinguisher-Cabinet-40LU32?s_pp=false&picUrl=//static.grainger.com/rp/s/is/image/Grainger/40LU32_AS02?$smthumb$ (enlarge the image and look at the door handle). I can't find what I remember as the classic with a hammer and instructions in read letters. I suspect I'm dating myself and Randall since it appears there have been some technological changes in the way these cabinets are constructed.198.41.235.95 16:16, 25 January 2016 (UTC)

Thanks, this fits the description. Although I still haven't seen any place on the web where these kinds of lockers are described as emergency lockers --Kynde (talk) 15:17, 26 January 2016 (UTC)

What I've wanted to do is have a normal one with a fire extinguisher, and next to it have a fireplace with a hammer in the back and a sign that says "In case of glass, extinguish fire." DanielLC (talk) 10:10, 25 January 2016 (UTC)

Me too! Though I'd prefer "In case of broken glass, start a fire." 108.162.237.71 19:04, 25 January 2016 (UTC)

sorry, "it's" abuse again. aren't we supposed to be geeks? --141.101.106.161 13:50, 25 January 2016 (UTC)

The "incomplete" infobox says Fire alarms usually only have plastic in front - not glass that needs to be broken. However, there are many styles of pull station which do in fact have glass which needs to be broken: example. 108.162.237.74 16:37, 25 January 2016 (UTC)

An agreement with the above: Please edit the 'incomplete' tag. While it's true that this new comic's explanation is indeed incomplete, the statement that 'fire alarms do not usually have glass that needs to be broken' isn't just untrue, it's clearly written from one user's perspective in a way that only confuses the meaning of the comic. The whole tag could use rewording, hopefully towards making a statement about what needs to be changed, rather than just declaring a disagreement. - 141.101.70.43 17:15, 25 January 2016 (UTC)

With the above: I think the explanation's complete. Googling "emergency locker glass" clearly reveals the apparatus in the comic (although without "glass" the results aren't that at all) so I think the reason is invalid. Should the tag be removed?03:46, 26 January 2016 (UTC)

It seems that the "locker" part of the search results is mostly due to google matching similar or related words, like "lock" or "case". I brought up a handful of results and couldn't find any products containing glass that actually called themselves "emergency lockers". I think the title text joke really is about not needing safety glass because you can bandage yourself with the first aid kit, but the wrong words got used.--198.41.235.167 13:47, 27 January 2016 (UTC)

Referencing the transcription, generally the correct term is "pane" of glass. Is there a reason the term "panel" is used?Abcasada (talk) 23:13, 5 February 2016 (UTC)

Because the original editor didn't have English as a first language? Removed. Nitpicking (talk) 04:07, 23 January 2022 (UTC)

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Source: https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/1634:_In_Case_of_Emergency

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