When you end the day by telling someone that the highlight of your day was being trapped in an elevator, you know it’s not been a good day.
It went something like this. I had a load of props to carry out so I took the elevator, which I don’t normally do. I usually take the stairs for exercise.
Then the elevator stopped between the third and fourth floors.
I rang the little bell. You know, we hear that every now and then when it stalls. Rob told me that happened to him once, he rang the bell and it started again. This did not happen for me.
So I rang it again. Waited. Hollered.
I’ve now learned that the people in my building are all very nice and do a good job of being reassuring. It just took a little while to find the super.
Meanwhile, inside the elevator, there’s no phone number on the inside of the elevator and I didn’t have a good cell signal. I could, however send text messages and oddly had wifi. (If anyone is wondering what Twitter is for? It’s for when you are trapped in an elevator.) I also had my little travel computer with me, so I sat on the floor and wrote while I waited. In some ways it was relaxing, since I was incapable of doing anything on my list of chores.
Eventually someone from the elevator company arrived and sent the elevator to the basement. He let me out as if nothing was wrong and I guess for him it was a normal part of the day.
I was wishing that I had one of the strange props with me, you know, a moose or dead dog or something, but it was a fairly boring load. And then the rest of my day was spent playing catch up.
I’ll tell you though, that “I’m sorry, I was stuck in an elevator” is a great conversation starter.
Glad to hear you were productive.
Perhaps the strangest elevator that I’ve seen is one where all the buttons are OUTSIDE of the elevator (it has a screen which indicates which elevator you’re supposed to go into).
Yes, emerging from the elevator with a dead dog would have certainly gotten the attention of the otherwise blase repairman… ditto the shotgun, limp lamb, bleeding chair, or moose head… where’s a good prop when you need one? Ooh, what if you were wearing those working wings from a few months back? hehe.
What? No little lamb?
New definition for elevator pitch: A pitch no more than 140 characters long that you can send to people in the outside world while trapped in an elevator.