Monday, January 08, 2007

Trapped in an elevator

It's been a while since I blogged, so here goes.

This morning, I was dropping a few items off at the office, so had to go up/down the elevator several times. I was in a bit of a rush because technically I was illegally parked in some reserved section and did not want to get towed.

On the final trip down, the elevator doors did not open. I was clearly at the lobby, but could not get out of the elevator. I was trapped. I am not normally a claustrophobic person, unless I am also physically restrained (ie. a MUCH smaller area) so realistically my biggest concern was getting to the car before the tow trucks did. I mashed most of the buttons, to no avail. I called the office upstairs and the technical support guy (he answered the phone) came down and tried to call the elevator (no good).

By this time, I figure the car is towed for good. It's been a whole FIVE MINUTES, afterall. I press and hold the 'call technician' button and get some person on the speaker. She asks what the address of the building is, I read it off the sign and she replies 'No sir, I need the STREET address.' Bewildered, I inform her that I did in fact, give her the street address. I repeat it and this time am very slow and clear in my phrasing: 'FIFTY-SIX, EAST SECOND AVENUE, ma'am.' After about the fifth attempt she called someone else over who was able to interpret my obviously thick accent. A service technician was dispatched, and I sighed in relief.

But then a certain realization hit me: technicians do NOT appear suddenly. In fact, they are usually HORRIBLY LATE. I would be TOWED FOR SURE if I waited for him to finish his latte, check his phone messages and then work his way through traffic over to my building. (I am sure that there are some prompt service technicians - it's just that it has been a while since any have done calls to my place.)

So I start mashing buttons...

...and the second floor lights up. The elevator starts moving! Oddly, both the second floor and Lobby are lit, but I do not care, so long as I can get out of this box. The doors open, I escape to the second floor and then press the elevator button, to call the OTHER elevator, to get down to the lobby.

The good news? My rental car was not towed.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Update you lazy Nova Scotian!

gwilli said...

tell me you tried prying the doors open, at least.

that often works.

Unknown said...

it's a while ago now. so I may have, but I was feeling pretty lazy that day, so maybe not.