barenakedladies

I wanted to do a weekly thread about life experiences about the mundane, the exciting, the scary things in life.

So this week.... tell me about the time...

you were trapped in an elevator.

who were you with?
what floor where you on?
why did it stop?
how long were you in there?
were you scared?
are you still in there?
do you need help?


Sorry about those last two.... i realize this may be specialized to a few people were actually trapped in an elevator at some point, but im sure it will make for interesting stories.

I guess if you havent been trapped in an elevator... you can either a. make up a story or b. tell me who you liked to be trapped in an elevator with.

Thank you...

now tell me about the time.......

maleficent

Oooh ...
This is a true story...

I was working in a building on the east side of manhattan.. in one of the floors above ours there was a talk radio station... and occassionally there'd be celebrity spottings in the building.

One morning, I was coming into work.. and got in the elevator.. door had almost closed when a hand reached out and stopped it... A tall gentleman got on the elevator, not particularly well dressed, and pressed the floor where the radio station was.

I looked up... and it didn't really register who it was... (all the years I lived in new york, the only celeb I've ever been able to spot at the time of the spotting was mick)

I was the typical new yorker, ignored him and stared at the numbers on the elevator... we go about 18 floors and the elevator makes a god awful creaking sound, followed by a whistle then a groan... Now i'm expecting to be hurtling 18 floors to the ground but we just stopped there.. .and the lights went out.. the only light on was a small emergency light whcih gave a lovely red hue to the elevator.

I'm thankful at this point that the elevator isn't crowded and tht I have a jumbo cup of coffee with me (though this becomes another concern later) I'm saying a small prayer that my companion isn't an axe murderer.

Two hours into this ordeal, I'm trying to chat with my elevator companion, but even then, I wasn't a chatter... and I still had no idea who this guy was... I'm also realizing that the jumbo coffee was a huge mistake and I have to pee...

Another hour later, the need to pee is becoming more urgent, and I'm becoming less willing to chat. My pager was going off about every 15 minutes with my office looking for me (this was before the days where everyone carried a cell phone) and the emergency workers don't seem to think that this is urgent because they had taken a lunch break.

One more hour later.. we're free and I haul 'taters to the ladies where I have never been so relieved to pee in my entire life...

Who was my companion?

The next morning, I saw him get on the elevator again to go to the radio station, and I flipped on the station when I hit my office... It was Meatloaf, and he went on for about 10 minutes about getting trapped in an elevator with a young woman who he never got the name of... and who wasn't really overly chatty... I had my 10 minutes of fame and no one ever knew it was me...

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Pragma

who were you with? I was with a coworker, trying to bring a replacement computer to a techwriter
what floor where you on? Inbetween the second and third floors out of three
why did it stop? That particular elevator had been having trouble every now and then - the next week, they had people out to fix it
how long were you in there? About ten minutes, my coworker called another coworker on his cell phone, who then came and fiddled with the elevators until it unstuck.
were you scared? Nope, not really - I was just annoyed.
are you still in there? Sadly, no - though if I'd had a laptop with me at the time, I could have surfed the internet.
do you need help? Nope.

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Eat antimatter, Posleen-boy!

barenakedladies

great stories !!!

mal... that is a wonderful story about being trapped with meatloaf.

im surprised he didnt write a song about it.

TRAPPED IN AN ELEVATOR WITH A REDHEAD!!!!!!!

Sho Nuff

I wasnt trapped in the elevator, but its a good story.

My first day working protection I was in the command post when I heard what sounded like a gunshot from around the corner. I looked into the hallway and saw nothing, but there was a secret service agent in a cp down the hall looking too. We heard two more and he ducked into the office and came back with a shotgun and me with an M4. We move down the hall securing the floor, scaring the hell out of everyone there, thinking there are gunshots or small ieds going off, turns out its 2 agents stuck in an elevator kicking the walls.

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I know Nietzsche doesnt rhyme with peachy, but you sound like a pretentious prick when you correct me.

Charlatan

who were you with?
I was alone, I was about 10 or 11-years-old, it was just me and my bike. I was on my way to school.
what floor where you on?
I lived on the third floor and was stuck just below the third floor.
why did it stop?
I was stupidly messing around with the buttons.
how long were you in there?
2 hours. I was late for school.
were you scared?
Not really... OK, just a little.
are you still in there?
Sadly no.
do you need help?
Yes, but not for the elevator problems...


My favourite stuck elevator story was told to me by a friend at City TV. It happened in the elevator in their building. It was either during a Much Music Video Awards or an Intimate and Interactive segment... but the elevator got suck between floor with Annie Lennox on board... it took a few hours to get it fixed. In the meantime, they were seranaded by and sang along with Annie... how would that be for cool?


This is a great idea for a thread by the way...

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"My hands are on fire. Hands are on fire. Ain't got no more time for all you charlatans and liars."
- Old Man Luedecke

maleficent

That'd be awesome...

now if only I paid attention - i could have had a nice concert with Mr Loaf - -

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Charlatan

I was thinking the same thing... I'd have been tempted to chant, "His name is Robert Paulson, His name is Robert Paulson"... but that's just me.

__________________
"My hands are on fire. Hands are on fire. Ain't got no more time for all you charlatans and liars."
- Old Man Luedecke

Jeff

who were you with?
Three of my buddies.
what floor where you on?
We were going to the 3rd floor, it stopped about 2 feet short of the 2nd floor.
why did it stop?
My buddy tried to pry open the door while it was moving.
how long were you in there?
1.5 hours.
were you scared?
A little nervous that we might get in trouble. Also nervous that I might pee my pants since I had been drinking heavily all night.
are you still in there?
Naw, man.
do you need help?
Naw, man.

Just a worthless experience. This was in my friends dorm at 3 am, so there were a bunch of security guards hovering around when they realized we were stuck.

The drunk friend who tried to open the doors was successful in opening the door about 5 inches, so we could see into the lobby somewhat. Than, after about 5 minutes, he laid down and passed out.

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For those who believe in God, most of the big questions are answered. But for those of us who can't readily accept the God formula, the big answers don't remain stone-written. We adjust to new conditions and discoveries. We are pliable. Love need not be a command or faith a dictum. I am my own God. We are here to unlearn the teachings of the church, state, and our educational system. We are here to drink beer. We are here to kill war. We are here to laugh at the odds and live our lives so well that Death will tremble to take us.
--Charles Bukowski

Bill O'Rights

Mr Loaf?

who were you with?
A hot little redhead that I had been seeing at the time
what floor where you on?
between 6 and 7...I think?
why did it stop?
Because...she stopped it.
how long were you in there?
*ahem* Just long enough
were you scared?
Of getting caught? A little, but that was half the fun.

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"I distrust those people who know so well what God wants them to do because I notice it always coincides with their own desires." - Susan B. Anthony

"Hedonism with rules isn't hedonism at all, it's the Republican party." - JumpinJesus

It is indisputable that true beauty lies within...but a nice rack sure doesn't hurt.

Redlemon

From the Las Vegas Mercury.............

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I can't read your signature. Sorry.

Pip

Service elevator at the Student Union House

who were you with? A bunch of friends.
what floor where you on? Between second and third floor.
why did it stop? Because we were jumping about to scare one of the girls.
how long were you in there? Less than a minute. We jumped around a bit more, pushed some buttons, and lo, the elevator started again.
were you scared? Nah. Or okay, a little bit. That elevator had a habit of breaking down.

I have a bit of a habit of blocking photocells in service elevators, yanking up inner doors and stuff like that, just to test if the elevator stops, and how hard it is to start it again. Yes, I'm a moron.

albania

what is so special that is in between the second and third floor?

Troublebot

I hadn't thought about this in years, but my high school marching band went to El Paso to participate in the Sun Bowl in the mid 80's. We were at the hotel, getting ready to go over to the parade and five of us got into an elevator to get to the ground floor. Well, it got stuck around the fifth floor. One of the guys was extremely claustraphobic and started freaking out. He freaked out even more when two of us managed to open the doors and there was nothing but solid cement in front of us. Hee!

Someone finally heard us yelling and came to get us out. We had to jump from the elevator to the floor below, then run down several flights of stairs to make the bus for the parade. We were almost late. Of course, our band directors blamed us, but to this day I swear none of us touched anything to make the elevator stop. Weird.

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Howard Moon: The wind is my only friend.
Wind: [whistling] I hate you.

JumpinJesus

I was working in San Francisco at the time in what we called the "Disco Building." I don't know why we called it the Disco Building, but we did. It's appropriate name is the Wells Fargo Building on Montgomery St.

Anyways, my friend and I were on our way back upstairs after our morning coffee and smoke break on the street. We were in the elevator with a couple of investment bankers (or maybe they weren't, who cares anymore?) who were lamenting the economy (1992) and fretting over having to sell their winter Florida home.

It happened to be a windy day for us, windier than usual. As the elevator is going up, we can hear the wind whistling through the elevator shaft. We're on an express elevator that doesn't stop between the 1st and 29th floors so we're watching a couple of XXs on the floor counter and listening to these two fellers prattle on.

As we pass the 30th floor, we feel the elevator begin to slow down. The numbers go, 30..31...32....33.......34.................35..............................





then nothing.

Whistling wind.

Quizzical looks.

The wind was strong enough to slow, then stop the elevator.

Luckily, our elevator had an intercom with the lobby security so my friend buzzed it. The guy responded that he was aware the elevator had stopped but that there wasn't really anything they could do. We'd just have to wait for the gust to die down and the elevator to move again.

After about 30 seconds or so, it moved and we exited at our floor with the other two gents proceeding up to the 41st floor. We got off the elevator and went back to work.

What I never told my friend was that the entire 30 seconds, I was playing over and over in my mind the scenario of the elevator somehow snapping loose of its tether and us plummeting 36 or so floors to our undoubtedly spectacular demises.

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"I can normally tell how intelligent a man is by how stupid he thinks I am" - Cormac McCarthy, All The Pretty Horses

JumpinJesus

Something tells me it's probably John Malkovic's brain.

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"I can normally tell how intelligent a man is by how stupid he thinks I am" - Cormac McCarthy, All The Pretty Horses

onodrim

That was the first thing I thought of too!

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"The world is so exquisite with so much love and moral depth, that there is no reason to deceive ourselves with pretty stories for which there’s little good evidence. Far better it seems to me, in our vulnerability, is to look death in the eye and to be grateful every day for the brief but magnificent opportunity that life provides"
-Carl Sagan

CSflim

who were you with?
A couple of friends from school. We were in a shopping centre on lunch break.


what floor where you on?
There were only two floors. We were going down.

why did it stop?
The elevator was a real rickety piece of crap that creaked like mad when it moved. One of my friends thought that this was hilarious, and started jumping up and down. The elevator stopped moving for a few seconds, and then resumed. Naturally this made the piece of crap elevator EVEN MORE entertaining than before. So a few days later he starts jumping up and down again. Once again it stops moving. Only this time it doesn't start again. Fuck.

how long were you in there?
About 15 mins, maybe.

were you scared?
No. Just thought I was going to be late back to class, and get in shit.

So there we were stuck in a non moving elevator, somewhere between the first and second floors. What to do in such a situation? We waited a minute or two to see if the thing would start up again on its own. It didn't. There was of course always the 'Bell' button in the elevator for just such an emergency. I had always wondered what exactly this button did. Well, I guess that the time had come to find out. We would press it, and a crack team of elevator engineers would have us out of there in no time at all. I reached over and pushed the button, and.....'BEEP'.
That's right, the button beeps. Nothing more, nothing less. Beeps. Not a particularly loud beep. Not a foghorn that can be heard from a mile away alerting those elevator engineers to our presence. No just a beep. Pressed it again. 'BEEP'. Still not believing it, I held it down this time. 'BEEEEEEEEEEEP'. Fuck.

So we sat around for a bit. Literally sat down. Chatted for a while. Argued for a while.

Then I decided that *I* was going to get us out of here. I walked up to the pair of metal doors, and spread them apart. Easy, they moved apart without much effort at all. On the other side of the pair of metal doors.....another pair of metal doors! Ok, well, take two....only these one's wouldn't budge. At all. Not a hope.

Tried the button again. 'BEEP'. Still no good. Fuck.

Tried the outter doors again. Not budging. Fuck.

Started eyeing up the 'Bell' button for another shot but decided against it. Went back to sitting around in the elevator. Then realised that these people weren't my friends. They were a bunch of assholes and I couldn't stand to be near them for another moment. I was going to tear someones juggular out any second. Cabin fever was already setting in and it had only been, maybe 10 minutes! I had to get out of there!

I started examining the area around the outter doors. Found a weird looking mechanical dealie. A friend started warning me against messing around with stuff I didn't know what was. What did he think was going to happen? That this latch-like thing here was going to unhook the elevator from the cable, and that we were going to plummet to our deaths? Well given the alternative was sitting around with these bastards.....

So I started pulling at stuff. And twisting stuff. And generally fucking around. Finally something gave, and we weren't plunging to our deaths. The outter doors had been unlocked, and they slid right open. Thankfully when I opened it, I wasn't faced with the empty area between the two floors. There was a three feet gap opening out onto the lower floor, where we could slide through and jump down.

We jumped out and headed for the hot food counter in the supermarket. Had a good lunch and made it back to class on time.

I wonder what the staff thought when they found the elevator, just sitting there, half way up the wall, with its doors open?

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