So heres how it went down... I get into the elevator. Push 3, the door closes and the car starts upward, for about 6 feet and stops. I wait for a few seconds. Push the button again. Nothing happens. I look at the emergency phone and decide to use it. This was a first for me. I pushed the call button. It rang about 20 times, then this message started coming out of the phone speaker: Emergency elevator phone calling. Emergency elevator phone calling. (repeated about 5-6 times). THEN, a live voice answered. I explained my situation. They said, Okay, well send someone to... And the phone was dead. Assuming they were going to say, ..e and help you, I waited. But after about one minute, the elevator started descending. Encouraged, I thought an engineer was on the premises and came quickly to help. But the elevator descended all the way to the basement of the building, and the door opened. Thinking there was probably an engineer there in the basement working on the elevator, I stepped out. The door of the elevator shut behind me. I walked around, but found no one. All the doors were locked, except one back door that led to an outdoor staircase which ascended to...a locked gate. I went down to the basement and looked around again. No one. It was actually pretty creepy down there. So, I decided to call the campus police and see if they could help let me out of the basement. I used my iPhone to pull up their number on the UNT website, but when I clicked the contact link, my phone screen read: You must download the most recent version of Adobe in order to open this page. Argh. So I tried to download it, but then I got a message and it said, This phone is not compatible with this version of Adobe. (They had the link associated with PC maybe? Not sure.) Argh again. So, I called information to ask for the number. But it was an automated robot information service, and it was so loud in the basement with all the machinery running the robot kept misunderstanding what I was saying for the U-N-T-campus-police. It repeated UNZ, UMT, etc. Triple argh. So I Googled UNT campus police phone number and called that number, but it was the main UNIVERSITY number! However, at the end of the message (after telling me the university was closed) the message said: If you were calling the police, please call XXX XXX XXXX). I hung up quickly, and repeating the number over and over to myself, called the police. They answered, and as soon as I got a person, I said Hello, Im... And they cut me off with, Are you the person in the elevator? I said, YES. But, NO. NOW Im stuck in the basement. I stepped out of the car because I thought that was you lowering the elevator and opening the door, but no one is here. They said, Hold on. Then I heard a walkie talkie voice, Shes stuck in the basement. The elevator went down there, and the door opened and she stepped out. They then got back with me, Okay, hes on his way down to let you out. I heard keys in one place through the wall, then more keys in another place, and I kept thinking he was coming to my door, but he never did. Finally, I tried the door with the sign that said, Keep this door closed at all times, and it was OPEN. I went through it to see a policeman standing in the middle of another room, looking around...for me. So, we exchanged pleasantries, and he led me up the stairs...which were right on the other side of that door...with no locked doors in between me and freedom. If you didnt catch the moral of the story its this: Dont let a sign tell you what to do when checking doors. Second lesson: Do your best to keep a fully charged battery just in case something weird like this happens. Third lesson: Beta test all links repeatedly on major university website pages. Fourth lesson: If an elevator looks, sounds, and acts like it might break down every time you use it, chances are it finally will. Ah, life...it certainly has its ups and downs... The end.
Posted on: Thu, 23 Oct 2014 01:53:43 +0000
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