Elevator Shafted

Got stuck in an elevator today with 8 other people. It was on my 100 things to do before I die list.

I never did get stuck on an elevator. I've seen it in comedy sketches and I along with most of the other people took it in as kind of funny. One guy was in a panic and kept saying he was afraid of being stuck in small places. Which was strange because just before we entered the elevator he was telling every one how he was a sailor in a nuclear submarine and would go three months at a time without surfacing. So when he all of a sudden was afraid of being stuck in a well lit elevator for 30 minutes or so, questions arose in my mind about his submarine stories.

One woman was afraid because she was late for work the day before, and was on her cell phone trying to convince he boss she would be late again today because she was stuck in an elevator. Another woman was told her car was going to be towed unless she got to the garage to try to prevent it. She was kind of a panic and yelling into her phone, "Don't tow my car, I'm stuck in an elevator". Then she held up her phone and we all start shouting, yes it's true she is stuck in an elevator with us.

I tried to lighten up the crowd and started a game. If you were stuck in an elevator who would you want to be stuck with. I said Sandra Bullock, to start it off. Everyone looked at me and it got kind of quiet and no one else played. Then someone else had the idea the doors were going to open and someone was going to say we were punked. One older gentleman said he read his horoscope and it said he was going to be on CNN. He imagined the doors would open and a camera crew would be there.

We took inventory of our stuff. I had bought two pair of shorts so and we had extra clothes. One lady had a bottle of water and another person had a bag with 2 subway sandwiches in it. Then there was a book someone else had so we had something to read. Plus we had pens and the ladies had all kind of stuff in their purses so we seemed to be in pretty good shape. This all took about 20 minutes.

Then for about 15 minutes someone banged on the outside doors of the elevator, which caused the elevator to shake and stuff.

Finally the doors were forced open and 2 policemen a paramedic and two elevator workers freed up. They asked if we were OK, took our names and gave us a number if we developed any elevator trauma later in the day as a result of our elevator ordeal. One woman turned to me and said, "By the way, I'm Sandra Bullock." She made my day.

This all happened at the VA hospital in Philadelphia. So if you call them they will confirm this story. Well thats another adventure recorded and passed on to you to be remembered or not and logged into your, "useless information file in the library in your mind".