False Alarms & Callout Discipline

False alarms waste time, tank tips, and spike team sanity. In full 24-player lobbies, one panicked callout can cascade into mass rejections of normal customers. Use a two-tier callout system.

Two-Tier Callout System

Soft Call

"Soft — checking cam" / "Audio weird"

Pauses serving without committing to reject. No penalty if wrong.

Hard Call

"Reject — Hollow Eyes" / "Camera looking — close feed"

Requires visual confirmation on CCTV or two independent signals.

Common False Alarm Causes

  • Post-patch prop changes — Landmarks moved; rebuild baseline after each update (see /updates)
  • Lighting flicker during power events — Kitchen event, not anomaly — check breaker status first
  • Normal customers with unusual cosmetics — Alpha NPC variety expanding; verify on cam
  • Duplicate callouts in large lobbies — Assign one CCTV lead; mute secondary watchers
  • Almost-normal anomalies (Day 9+) — Use second-signal rule; compare to /anomalies reference images

Second-Signal Rule

Before a hard reject on Days 3-6, require two of:

  1. Visual tell on CCTV matching a known anomaly type
  2. Audio cue from /guides/sound-cues baseline break
  3. Second player independently confirms the same tell

On Day 7+, Camera Looking and cluster spawns justify faster hard calls — see /guides/days.

Large Lobby Protocol

In 10+ player servers: one CCTV lead, one callout channel, no overlapping rejects. If two players disagree, default to soft-call and skip the customer — losing one order beats a team wipe.