But Sir! The Castle is Under Attack!

So, I'm lying in bed, listening to the radio, being trod upon by various felines, and contemplating actually getting up when there's this sort of crunkly crash noise, and I'm all "Ringo, what did you do now?" Turns out, there's a ladder propped up against the window next to my bed, and then a guy who's electric screwdrivering something. I eventually figure out that he's changing the filter on the air conditioner (which I'm planning to avoid using as much as possible despite my "Yeeeack it's so hot!" thing because it's gonna jack up the electricity bill).
It occurs to me that in every movie and TV show known to man, when someone props a ladder up against the castle walls, the appropriate action is to push the ladder away so that the enemy falls to their doom in a visually impressive manner as the ladder arcs them to the ground.