Happened to me about two months back in an elevator with 7-8 people in it. The doors closed (lobby level) then the car dropped 6 inches & didn’t move. We called on the security phone & 15 minutes later the doors popped open. Two people on each side quickly stepped out, but the person directly in front of the open doors adopted a deer-in-headlights stare. A couple people shouted “Move It…!” but the doors had already begun to close and we were all treated to Another 15 minutes stuck in the elevator. :smack: :mad:
If I may be so bold to suggest the following: If you should ever happen to be stuck in an elevator with another person and if the doors should suddenly pop open, [R. Lee Ermey] Move…!Move…!Move…!Move…!Move…![/R. Lee Ermey]
I got stuck in an elevator in college once…I forget how I alerted someone I was in there.
Firefighters opened the doors of the floor above the car. They jumped on the car, opened the escape hatch…and this firefighter reached a hand down. I grabbed it and he pulled me up like I weight 20 pounds. (I was about 170.)
I’m not a panicky type and would be bored, at most, if I got stuck. I do, however, make sure that I’m not needing to visit the restroom when I get on an elevator lest I not be able to get off for a while (memories of an agonizing few hours stuck in a downtown highway traffic jam are still fresh).
Two years ago durring orientation for my new job. 17 of us crowded into an elevator, and headed down from the fourth floor of the hotel to the basement for a tour. Not surprisingly, there was a room service tray on the floor of the elevator. Any of you who work in hotels know that the staff likes to dump room service trays in the elevator and let someone else take them to the dishwasher instead of actually doing it themselves. Anyway, 17 people and one big serving tray in the elevator… we were packed like sardines. Then the thing gets stuck between 2 floors. “Help” was quick to arrive, but there was nothing anyone could do.
The guy in the corner, who incidentally just started in room service, realized we could get a bit more leg room if he pick up the tray and held it. What a selfless gesture. Poor guy held that tray for about an hour when his arms started to give out. The tray got passed around after that, no one knowing when we would be freed.
The repair person was on his way, but was stuck in traffic somewhere, and no one in the maintence department knew how to solve the problem. They were able to crack the door open about 3 inches to let some fresh air in, but no more progress was made until the repair man finally arrived.
About 2 Hours and 15 minutes after we got in that elevator, we finally stepped out onto the first floor. Of course, we used the stairs for the rest of the tour.
At the Museum of natural history here in town there is an elevator that goes from the offices upstairs and down into the dungeons where all the dead animals are archived. This elevator is build as a shaft that goes on the outside of the building, so its always the same temperature. One winter a couple of years ago, a coworker of mine got stuck in the elevator one evening. It was winter, and something like 15 minus celsius. He was stuck there until everyone got back to work in the morning, freezing and exhausted from trying to keep warm. Now there is a thick sleepingbag and an emergency ration posted in one corner of that elevator. I always laugh with myself when I zoom down into the dungeons in that elevator. I know, its not funny, but anyways, theres a sleepingbag and emergency rations in the elevator (snort).
I have always had what I thought to be an irrational, not fear exactly, but mental image, of the elevator plummeting just as I step out of it, squishing me in a similar manner.