“I’m afraid that your evil plot has failed, elevator man!”

Zane Showker HallToday, I got stuck in the elevator at Zane Showker Hall. Now mind you, it wasn’t for but a minute or two. What happened was is that I got on the high-speed elevator that, when you’re looking straight on at the two of them, is on the right. By the way, these are the elevators that go up the tower, not the one that only goes from the ground floor to the second floor. But anyway, I meant to go up to the second floor, but instead accidentally pressed six. So, on past two I went, up to the top of the tower. Then when the elevator reached six, it stopped, as it was supposed to, and the little light in the button for the sixth floor went out, as it was supposed to. Right after this, I pressed two to go back down to where I meant to go, as I usually do when I make a floor mistake. Now the door was supposed to open. I SAID, NOW THE DOOR WAS SUPPOSED TO OPEN! Hmmm… still closed. The elevator had obviously quit moving. I tried the open button. No avail. Okay, what about hitting another floor button? I tried five. Nothing. All the other buttons? Nothing. Alarm? Not yet. The emergency phone? I’m not there yet. So I tried the door. The problem with Zane Showker’s elevators is that the door is a single panel, so there’s no middle to push open in an easy-to-reach place. So I had to reach over to the end, getting my fingers in as far as they would go, which wasn’t very far. And, on a smooth, solid metal surface, I pushed in and over with my fingertips. Surprisingly enough, the door started to move! So I continued to push the door open, and there was the sixth floor, and I stepped out. The elevator then sounded it’s chime to announce it was going down (recall that I had pushed all the buttons), and off it went. In the meantime, you may call me crazy, but I summoned the other elevator! However, this elevator, unlike the other one, worked properly, and I was able to go down to the second floor without a hitch. Still, facilities is going to hear from me, I’ll tell you… but there you are – my first experience in being stuck in an elevator.


Date posted: February 10, 2000