Tuesday, April 29, 2008

Elevator Adventures

Did you all hear about the guy who was stuck in one of McGraw-Hill's elevators for 40 hours? This actually happened a couple of years ago, but it's top of mind because the story has gotten a lot of press lately.

It resurrected one of my old quirks: for a while a few years ago I was convinced that I'd get stuck in an elevator at some point; every time I got in one, I'd think about whether it was good or bad timing, relatively speaking. If I really had to go to the bathroom: poor timing. If I'd just picked up lunch and had a book with me, it might not be so bad.

Well, I was leaving work around 6:00 tonight and almost had to face my fear. On the way down, somewhere between floors one and two, the elevator gave a HUGE lurch and a really sudden stop. It really shook and then just stayed put for a few minutes. The other woman in the elevator and I hadn't gathered our wits yet to formulate a plan when the elevator went back up to the second floor of its own accord. All in all, it wasn't such a bad stuck-in-an-elevator experience, but now I'm totally convinced that it's going to happen again. I tell you what: I'm not getting in that elevator again without a gripping novel and some trail mix.

5 comments:

kk said...

nfw.

You know, yesterday morning when I came in the security gates were doing crazy shit of their own accord, opening and closing with the alarms on them going off for no reason. I think mercury is headed into retrograde - batten down the hatches!

Tina said...

I'm so glad someone else thinks of these things. I used to wonder exactly the same thing as I ascended to the 35th floor of HNR. Mostly, though, I would panic slightly when the smelly guys from the 29th floor would get on with me (ick!). I still find myself looking for the emergency phone every time I'm going up more than 3 floors.

Kristinn said...

I was fascinated with the fast-forward video of that guy that I found online the other night. He was pretty nonchalant about it, all in all. I have no idea how I'd act, but yeah, I'd sure want a good book to keep me company! I have those thoughts about timing ALL the time! Any time I have a nagging urge to do something, I listen because I'm convinced it's my intuition taking care of me. LOL!

Josh said...

Dude, if that's the giant green MH building on 42nd Street, Todd used to work in that building! That stuff is so scary. Thank god I quit smoking and don't work late hours because I don't think I'd be able to handle that at all.

Spooky said...

Okay, that video is terrifying. I mean, the first couple of hours, whatever. Even through to the afternoon of the next day, knowing that you were one of the few people in the building so late the night before... but after that, I'd start wondering if they'd get me out before I starved or died of dehydration, or something.