Trapped!

pic of my nemesis taken from my iPhone

I’ve lived in Manhattan for almost 4 years now, and I am finally feeling like I’m close to passing my “initiation” as an official New Yorker. So far, I’ve been in a bus accident, a cab accident, almost stepped on a dead rat, AND now I get to add one more thing to the list: TRAPPED IN AN ELEVATOR.

On Thursday, I was leaving my office on the 34^th floor. I’ve never been nervous about elevators or small spaces, even though some of my coworkers DREAD the long elevator rides to get to our office. I rode down the elevator to the lobby, said goodnight to the doormen, and as I stepped outside, it started pouring rain. Big raindrops. Bad. So I turned around and headed back into the building to get my umbrella, which I’d left in my office. I took the elevator by myself back up to the 34^th floor, grabbed my umbrella, and went back to the elevators. There are 4 elevator cars for our floor- they are express elevators that go from the 1^st floor straight to the 15^th floor, and then all the way up to the top. I stepped into the elevator cab and pressed the 1^st floor button.

Around the 26^th floor, the elevator cab started shaking. And when I say, “shaking”, I mean violently rattling and making very very scary noises. I got a terrible feeling in my stomach and I was instantly terrified. This isn’t supposed to happen! I grabbed the railings along the sides of the elevator and started to crouch down. After a few seconds of the heavy shaking, the elevator plummeted down. I saw the numbers flashing by: 26,25,24,23,23…just zipping right through. I don’t know why, but the first thing I thought of was that my legs might break if the elevator brakes jammed on suddenly, so I dropped to the floor and sat down as the elevator cab kept falling. After the 15^th floor, you can’t see what floor you’re at anymore, so I had no idea where or when this elevator would stop. I was thinking, “what if I die like this? Will I get knocked unconscious? At least if I die, it would be an interesting story! I hope Dan picks out a GOOD picture of me for when this goes on the news!” Ha! It’s funny the things that flash in your head!

So the elevator stopped. Abruptly, but not violently. Kinda like when you jam on the brakes in your car, and it kinda jerks you a bit. I stood up and started pressing every button I could find. I couldn’t figure out how to get the intercom on, so I pressed the fire alarm button and it started ringing just like the alarms you hear in school fire drills. A voice came on the intercom and I said, “I’m stuck in the elevator!” From there, he told me to relax and they would get me right out. I checked my phone and I had reception so I called my husband and told him. He told me to call 911 but I said that I didn’t want to cause an emergency unless they really can’t get me out.

After 35 minutes, it was getting really hot and I was starting to feel a little panicked. The guy on the intercom came on and said that the car had fallen PAST the lobby, and was in between the lobby and basement level and they couldn’t get the doors open. Great. He said that they had to call a mechanic. Are you serious?!

I started texting my friends so that I could get my mind off of the situation and I wouldn’t feel alone. Thank God I had cell reception! Otherwise, I would have been panicked. I was sitting on the floor, watching the minutes tick by, and my friends kept saying to call 911. I said that I would give it an hour and if the mechanic didn’t show up by then, I was calling the FDNY.

The mechanic showed up right at about the hour point, and he worked on the elevator for another 20 minutes. They told me not to move and be very still (that made me feel even MORE nervous!) They weren’t able to move the car up to the lobby, so they pried open the doors and I saw about 8 men standing there (hoping I wouldn’t sue them, I guess!) Two of the men reached down and pulled me up by the arms to the lobby floor. They asked if I was ok, and I told them all I needed was a martini!

Now I do have a fear of elevators but just crowded elevators. I’m glad I wasn’t trapped with 9 other people- that would have been insane! Today, I waited for the elevator and I let it go without me THREE times because there were too many people in it. I finally was ok getting in with 2 other people, but I was still nervous. The thing is, I can’t ever avoid elevators because I live in a high rise building with 60 floors, and I work in a building with 35! I think the best solution is to always carry a flask with some Belvedere on board…just in case!