And, in the process, got to learn a whole lot about high rise construction. Let’s set the scene.
At my desk on the 14th floor of a tall, tall building. I pick up the envelope containing a credit card payment I am making as I get ready to head to the lobby and drop it off at the post office. I get to the elevator bank on my floor and hit the down button. Everything is hunky dory at this point.
However, the elevator is taking quite a while to appear. Since I tend to fiddle when I get bored, I start playing with the envelope. I realize that if I flip the envelope in front of me with the right amount of spin, it will spin around and sort of waft back to me (kind of like a frisbee). This is exciting to me. Not in a bizarre centripetal force fetish kind of way. More like an “ooh, cool toy” kind of way.
Anyway, in my excitement at noticing the postal gravitation mocking, I give it a bit too much of a flick. The envelope then starts flitting towards the closed elevator doors and manages to perfectly glide through the opening between door bottom and the floor. As I imagine the sound of my envelope screaming as it hurtles toward the bottom of the shaft, I realize that this may somewhat delay me in paying my bill. I also rue the day I chose the festive “Puppies N’ Posies” checks as opposed to the Superman themed ones. It’s only now that I realize the checks potential ability for flight may have been more important than a schnauzer frolicking through a dewy meadow.
So, I head to the front desk in the lobby with my tale of woe. My initial cover story of a mean middle manager tossing the check is met with some skepticism and I eventually come clean that it was in a fit of childish insouciance that I managed to throw money down a well covered hole. Building maintenance comes to get me all while I know they mock me deep down inside. They take me into the belly of the beast where I get to use a flashlight to peer into the bottom of an elevator shaft when I spot my envelope. We were reunited in a scene not somewhat unlike the slightly tense but ultimately heartfelt reunions on a Lifetime television movie of the week.
Once all is said and done, the story above is sadly true and I realize even more sadly that I am ultimately an idiot.
