I work at a public building. This particular building hosts the County jail on the two topmost floors. Now it’s happened several times that while getting into the elevator, before I can hit the button of the floor I want to go to, which takes me a while to move my arms in order to press the few buttons I can reach in the elevators, that the elevator will suddenly go up from the floor I work on, to either the 6th or 7th floors … the Jail.
This morning, I was working, and decided to go down to the cafeteria to get a cup of coffee. I pressed the down button, the elevator arrived. I reached for the Ground level button, but before I could press it the doors of the elevator slammed shut, and the elevator began to move upward toward 6, and finally 7 before stopping.
There I sat, fearing that once again I’d be trapped in the elevator car (as this has happened before). I frantically pressed the Ground level again and again … nothing. I sat there, unable to reach the emergency phone or alarm. I considered my cell phone, which I had fortunately brought along, but they almost never get signal in the building’s elevators (especially not the last time I got stuck on 6). I stretched my arm reaching for the Open door button, hoping it would work, as previous times it did not and I had been left shouting from the elevator for help. The doors opened!
I exited the elevator to the 7th floor. This was new. Still the jail, but I had never been on this floor before. There was a small window with a speaker box. A County Deputy sat behind the desk staring at her terminal. I tried to wave to get her attention. No luck. I noticed a camera in the corner. Hopefully someone was watching and would see me soon. I tried the button on the speaker box, uncertain if I could press it hard enough (my grip strength is so small that when a doctor once tried to take it with a manual device the device couldn’t read it, and the device went down to 1 lb of force).
“Hi, can I have some help with the elevator?”
Silence
I tried again.
“Hello sir, how did you get up here? Only we can call elevators to this floor.”
I was wondering that same question myself, but informed the Deputy of my predicament. She noted she was calling her supervisor to get me help. I waited for 20 minutes. Another deputy came and escorted me through the some winding hallways to the service elevator where he escorted me down to the cafeteria on the ground level. I returned to my office, approximately 40 minutes after having left, coffee in hand, just glad that this ordeal was over, and that in spite of the Monopoly saying, I could still work the remainder of the day and collect my paycheck.
Monopoly – Go To Jail Card and image are copyrights of Parker Brothers. The image is from Wikia.com.
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