Damned elevator, or: I want to sue!(long)

The BBQ Pit
1

Okay, so at 5:15AM this morning I cruise by the library. I’m the baker in the cafe located in the building, and do not work for the library. The place won’t be open, it’s Labor Day, but I’m letting myself in, to go up to the cafe and collect some bacon grease I left there. Family and friends will be gathering for an outdoor breakfast cookout, and I’m the designated firestarter. Got my wood, firestarting materials and food, all ready to go.

So I use my security pass to get in, hop on the elevator to go up on floor, it starts up, AND THEN IT FRIGGIN’ STOPS! You heard me! So I pull open the panel to call on the emergency phone, and it won’t work! All there is is a button to push, but the number it rings says “The number you dialed is either void or not keyed to your area code. Please try again.”

WHAT THE HELL? Here I am, stuck on an elevator in a building in which nobody else is scheduled to be there for 24 hours. No cell phone. No water. NO BATHROOM!!!

I freak out for a few minutes, then calm down. I do know that when the others arrive at our picnic spot, and see I’m not there, they will be concerned, as I had been enthusiastic about the affair, and wouldn’t just blow it off. So at intervals I pound on the walls of the elevator, and ring the emergency bell. Every so often I cry a little bit, but I’m getting more and more angry.

One of the reasons for the anger is that last year I was stuck on the same damned elevator for 2-1/2 hours, when I arrived at work early, to make some extra cakes. That time the emergency phone was also not ringing right, it would call the library number, not 911. That time, after being released, all I asked for, and I did get it, was a written apology from the library.

Thank heavens for family. First they tried my house, and didn’t find me. Then they went to my parent’s house(my folks are out of town) There they found my own car. Hoo boy, my sister forgot I’d told her I’d borrowed a van belonging to my folks. Then they call my dad’s mobile phone, and after a process of elimination realize the van is missing. Worry time. Finally my cousin and my brother-in-law think of the library. They find the van, with all my stuff in it, and the police are called. My cousin calls my boss at home and he arrives as quick as he can.

They go inside and hear me pounding and ringing the bell. So at least I know I’m found, and have someone to talk to. The fire department arrives and gets the elevator open. It’s weird, but I start crying again after I am found and released. We go outside so I can get some air, and then the library director arrives. He’s worried(as well he should be), but he *is * a nice guy. I don’t go off on him, but I tell him I will be needing the name of the library legal counsel, as I will be contacting a lawyer. He says sure, he understands.

I was in there for five hours. I could have gotten sick. What if I need some regular medication, and been stuck in there for a day without it? I’m as mad as hell. But am I really justified in a suit?

And since this is the Pit, oh FUCK IT! I was scared! :mad:

2

Jeebus, man! Five hours? I would’ve shat my pants!

Normally I’m in the “avoid litigation” crowd, but it’s clear that the library was aware that their elevator a) had failed in the past and b) had an improperly functioning emergency phone. This is a very, very bad thing, especially in a public building. It’s straight-up negligence (in the non-law sense of the word, since I know fuckall about law) and if your previous experience in the elevator wasn’t enough to get it fixed, maybe it will take a lawyer to wake them up. As you pointed out, you were lucky enough to be physically unharmed by your ordeal, but someone else might not be so lucky.

3

But in fact you did not need any medication, nor did you get sick. So there is nothing that the library needs to do to restore you to the condition that you were in prior to your ordeal. (No medical bills etc)
On the other hand you were greatly inconvienced by their elevator not operating properly, and the emergency equipment not working. Particulary since this is not the first time.
If I were feeling ballsy I would take your rate of pay (per hour), add all the hourly pay of all the people who were looking for you and then take that sum and double it. (Double time for Sunday) Add to that the cost of the gas burned in the search and ask for that amount. If they balk, mention that the local TV news reporter is always looking for a good story.
I would also lay a dime on which ever agency that is responsible for the licensing of elevators in your city. Why has this elevator failed twice? Why does the emergency phone not work? What do their inspectors do between coffee breaks? Mention the local TV guy again.
On and one last thing. take the stairs, better for your health, in more ways than one :slight_smile:

4

I’m with you a hundred percent on this. As stated, they already knew that the equipment was defective and still didn’t fix it.

As an aside, for folks who get caught in similar circumstances, in many elevators if you can get a grip on the edge of the door, you can force it open. In elevators I tried this on in my youth, the door would open with a little bit of persuasion (and the moving elevator would stop – not important here). So, if you now are holding open a spring-loaded door and looking at the outer doors, perhaps between floors, take a look at the top edge of the outer doors for a catch that you can pop open. Open the outer doors, hop out, and Bob’s your uncle.

5

I’m not much on tying up the legal system, when a loud temper fit at the idiots in charge(?) and our ever helpful friends in the press, can do the job as well.

YMMV

Glad you’re okay.

6

Elevators have to be inspected regularly, and the inspection certificates have to be publicly posted. Find the last certificate, get the name of the inspector, and make a very public complaint. It will get the library in hot water fast…

7

I’ll respond to several comments here.

  1. The inspection certificate is posted in the elevator, as well as the name of the responsible individual. It’s done yearly, and isn’t due again until April 2005. So it was inspected well AFTER the last incident, and declared fit. Huh.

  2. I had a public fit the last time. It obviously wasn’t enough. They did give me a written, signed apology though, in which the library director said the matter would “be taken care of”. Huh, again.

  3. A second cousin of mine is the anchor on a local TV station, and I will be seeing her at the annual family reunion next Sunday, 9/12/04. If I haven’t gotten some promise of satisfaction from the library by then, I may just take her aside and mention this.

  4. I did try everything I could to open the elevator. I pushed on the doors in various ways, I jumped around, in case it was stuck on something, and so on. I partially removed a cieling panel, but I’m not tall enough to reach up and push it out, and I didn’t know what was up there anyway.

5)And after this I will not enter that elevator again. The library will damned well “fix” it, but they will also make sure there is a secure way for me to take the stairs during off hours. It’s the stairs from here on out for me.

8

That sucks. You might have a claim for negligent infliction of emotional distress if the library knew the elevator continued to malfunction and if it is typical that employees are on the premises while the building is closed. At the same time, if I understand you correctly, you were going to your place of work to “collect” some bacon grease you had saved. Had you brought it to work and left it there or was it grease that belonged to the cafe? If the latter, you might want to chalk this up as a lesson to never use a quirky elevator in a closed building.

Good luck.

9

I suffer from Inflammatory Bowel Disease, and I can guarantee you, if I had been stuck in an elevator for five hours I absolutely would have shat my pants. Maybe more than once. And I certainly can’t be without my medicines for 24 hours or more, which was a distinct possibility in your situation, Baker. Because of my IBD, getting stuck in a kludgey elevator is a distinct paranoia of mine…

10

Like I said, the library director came, when he was notified that police and the fire department were at the building.

I should have asked him(politely, I like the guy) “Mr. Director, what if it had been you? Say, you were passing by and decided to bop up to your office to pick something up. What about your insulin, hmmmm?” The gentleman is a diabetic. If he didn’t have someone expecting him, as I did, he could have been in serious health problems, as he really has to watch his diet.

Bathroom problems would have been annoying, but I’d live through them. I just might need a little more “consolation”.

I don’ty want to gouge them, just make a point.

11

Oh, goodness, Baker, how horrifying! Five hours!

At least your relatives were able to play detective. And where was your cell phone, hmmmmmm?

Give the library a wake up call. But don’t put them out of business. It is a library, after all.

I’m glad you’re okay. Definitely call the inspector.

Did you at least make the cookout?

12

Talk to the elevator inspector’s superior about the repeated problems with that elevator, and the fact that it broke down again (presumably four months) after having been given a clean bill of health by his inspector after the first breakdown.

If it’s a publicly-owned library, and there are fiscal problems impeding the library’s ability to get a permanent and functional repair or thorough rehab job on it, find out who is responsible for library funding, and give them a clear piece of your mind – a subtle hint that if you don’t get a guarantee that the money to fix it will be there within a reasonable period of time, you might just talk to a lawyer about suing the city/county/whatever. And point out to him that if he even thinks about talking about campaigning for closing the library on account of that threat, you’ll make an even bigger public stink.

13

The elevators at my place are scary as well, and often do strange and unusual things. It’s about a once a month occurence to hear the alarm bell go off as someone is trapped between floors - thankfully, it’s never happened when no one else was around. However, our emergency phones actually work, unlike yours. Your phones not working is negligence of some sort, especially if they didn’t work in the last incident and apparently weren’t repaired. Based on what happened with one person I know who was trapped in an elevator from 8pm to 6am, you might expect at least a $10k settlement if you take them to court over it.

The scariest thing I ever had happen was getting in on floor 1, pushing “4”, having the doors slam shut, the alarm go off, the elevator rushed to floor “9”, but only halfway, the door opened so I was staring out at the feet of people on the 9th floor, the door slammed shut again, the elevator dropped very quickly to the basement, and the doors opened, but the basement floor was 2 feet above the floor of the elevator. After waiting 2 or 3 minutes, I risked a quick jump out and then called the building maintenance people (who didn’t seem the least bit concerned).

According to Snopes, more than 30 people die each year in the US alone in elevator-related accidents. I’ve heard numbers of “several hundred” each year worldwide, but have no cite for that. Whatever the case, improperly working elevators are not a quirk or inconvenience, they are a hazard.

14

No, I’m not going to gouge the place, I like it and on the whole I am proud of it. The building is almost brand new, having been designed by Michael Graves, a reknowned architect. and having a second grand opening in January of 2002 that First Lady Laura Bush attended. She was a school friend of a library wheel. But I have been caught in the elevator twice, and two other times I have seen it out of service while something is being done to it.

I just want to make a point.

15

Oooh, remind them what might have happened had the elevator malfunctioned when the First Lady visited.

That fucking sucks. I’ve never had a problem with elevators, but this is one of my fears.

16

While an occasional problem that stalls an elevator is almost understandable, having a non-working emergency phone is not acceptable. You want to make a point without costing them money? That’s admirable, and here’s how - insist on routine, random testing of the emergency phone, with documented proof that such testing actually does occur, to ensure that it actually works and actually dials someone who can send help. Sure, the dispatch company will sometimes charge a nominal fee for the test (I think we pay $10 per test); if they have a problem with that then they should shut their doors before a PE or inspector condemns the elevator.

I wouldn’t certify any elevator as safe if the installed phone didn’t work, and after stamping the elevator as unsafe I’d talk to the building owner about their overall building maintenance procedures too, which I guarantee is something they would not want me to nitpick over…almost everyone cuts corners somewhere.

17

Using the legal system to “make a point” is admirable, but inappropriate. You weren’t injured, have no losses but your time and emotions, and are justifiably pissed. I suggest you tear their asses up, make sure that any fines due the city are levied and paid for, and maybe even do some work with that anchor cousin of yours to “make a point”.

Definitely make a public stink and do whatever you have to to make sure it doesn’t happen again, but don’t waste the court’s time on this one. There are better, cheaper and more expedient ways of getting your point across.

Of course, that’s JMHO.

Sam

18

I agree that lawsuits are overdone – but threatening lawsuits works wonders when one is faced with Bureaucratic Obfuscation Syndrome.

19

I would agree with you on this one.

20

Jeez, Baker! I would have totally flipped my lid if I’d been stuck on an elevator for five hours! I applaud your (relative) sanity throughout the whole ordeal. And I second the ‘Thank God for your family’ mantra! I don’t know what you should do as far as the To Litigate or Not To Litigate issue (though I’m pissed off about the elevator phone!), but I’m all over Ivylass’s cell phone suggestion! I know that you’re planning to take the stairs from now on, but you never know when you’ll get stuck on ANOTHER damn elevator (it does seem to be your curse)!

Will you at least look into it?