The New Chinese Fire Drill

“Look at that”, Mary said, “I haven’t seen one of those since the 70s.”  We used to do this when I was young, being a teenager out on a night of joyriding when the car stopped if somebody called, “Chinese Fire Drill” everyone had to get out run around and get back in a different door and then we would continue on our way.  This was often done at a stop sign or a red light and we were considerate not to hold up traffic too much.  This game has been described as being stupid and pointless, but we did it because it was fun!

The modifier Chinese was a derogatory term meaning that it was negative and inferior and it evolved from military phrases like the “Chinese ace” and the “Chinese landing”, which referred to an incompetent pilots from the first World War and maybe even to the earliest contacts between Europeans and the Chinese.  Adding Chinese before anything made it absurd, backwards, confusing, disorganized, or inept, thus giving us the Chinese fire drill.  Political Correctness killed this game and I don’t condone anything that comes off as being racist, but kids nowadays don’t interact with each other anymore, so it is no wonder that Mary was so surprised.

Kids who were born in 1995 and later, grew up with cell phones, they are on facebook, Twitter, Snapchat and Instagram and all the other social media sites that I have no clue about, before they started high school.  They do not remember a time before the internet existed and this has made them less social, as they don’t know how to interact with anybody, mostly because they are too involved with their cell phones.  Kids get bored way too easy these days, because they are addicted to their Smartphones where they can switch to Netflix anytime they want to occupy themselves.  According to a new study, fifty percent of teens are addicted to their cell phones and now I will take out my violin to show my sympathy for them.

I am suggesting a new game for kids, one that I think will be fun and it works a lot like the Chinese fire drill.  When kids go to a party and someone calls out, “Chinese Fire Drill”, then everyone has to switch cell phones.  They look at what others have on their phones and learn about their friends, so they can communicate with them better.  I am not looking for a lawsuit, as even though I feel this would be a lot of fun, this game has the potential for plenty of things to go horribly wrong.  Maybe this game could be called “Switches”, or something like that.  What kind of stuff is stored on these phones?  You might find out that your friend is a real basket case by seeing their dirty laundry, or perhaps there is a picture of them wearing a dog collar.

Written for FOWC with Fandango – Condone, for Sheryl’s Daily Word Prompt – Plenty, for Ragtag Community – Laundry, for Paula’s Three Things Challenge where the three prompt words are “basket, violin, lawsuit”, for Rachel Poli Time To Write Sentence Starter Prompt – “Look at that” and for Word of the Day Challenge Prompt – Collar.