# What would you do if you got stuck in a freezer? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 9, 2014, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-do-if-you-got-stuck-in-a-freezer/695180 "2014-08-09T18:05:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Artemis\_Tardis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4bbf92/32.png) [@Artemis\_Tardis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Artemis_Tardis)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2014, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-do-if-you-got-stuck-in-a-freezer/695180/1 "2014-08-09T18:05:24Z")
Let’s say you work at a restaurant. It is close to closing time and you just want to get some ice cream before you go home. You go to the freezer, open the door, leave it open and grab the ice cream. All of a sudden… Door closes behind you. You try to open it, and the internal door handle snaps in two. You are stuck inside the freezer. And it is freezeing cold. The door is quite thick, as well as the walls, so there is no cellphone service inside. People leave the restaurant. Nobody actually noticed you are missing - they just thought you went home earlier. Despite all your knocks and yells… nobody heard you. So… you are basically f\*\*\*\*. what would you do? ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2014, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-do-if-you-got-stuck-in-a-freezer/695180/2 "2014-08-09T18:07:07Z")
Chill ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2014, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-do-if-you-got-stuck-in-a-freezer/695180/3 "2014-08-09T18:17:20Z")
Push the giant emergency release button that the doors of all walk-in freezers these days have specifically for this situation. ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2014, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-do-if-you-got-stuck-in-a-freezer/695180/4 "2014-08-09T18:25:05Z")
Assuming the giant red button is also broken, I’d adjust the thermostat, because fuck it. I’m not freezing to death just so the restaurant has ground beef for the morning. Then I’d wait until someone misses me. It won’t be that long, and the restaurant is the first place they will look. With any luck, DH will convince one of the managers to let him in, and when I hear people come in, I start banging on the door again. ---
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2014, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-do-if-you-got-stuck-in-a-freezer/695180/5 "2014-08-09T18:31:37Z")
Activate the sprinkler system ans wait for the fire department to come save my ass. ---
**Author:** ![johnpost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2014, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-do-if-you-got-stuck-in-a-freezer/695180/6 "2014-08-09T19:23:40Z")
find my favorite flavor of ice cream. start there. i do some of my best thinking while eating ice cream. ---
**Author:** ![Kedikat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ed655f/32.png) [@Kedikat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kedikat)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2014, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-do-if-you-got-stuck-in-a-freezer/695180/7 "2014-08-09T19:54:11Z")
Sometimes you can access the fan that is blowing across the cooling radiator. Jam it if you can. Block the vent that cold air is blowing out of. Disassemble shelving and use the metal to start tearing through the wall. Sing. Nobody can hear you, take the opportunity to wail like a rock star. If someone does hear you, great. Say you were screaming for help. ---
**Author:** ![Doctor\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctor_jackson/32/32_2.png) [@Doctor\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doctor_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2014, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-do-if-you-got-stuck-in-a-freezer/695180/8 "2014-08-11T20:36:54Z")
Shove a loaf of french bread up my rear and become a Doc Pop. ---
**Author:** ![garygnu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garygnu/32/2924_2.png) [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2014, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-do-if-you-got-stuck-in-a-freezer/695180/9 "2014-08-11T20:51:11Z")
> [@johnpost](#): > > find my favorite flavor of ice cream. start there. i do some of my best thinking while eating ice cream. They’ve got Mississippi Mud… and they’ve got Chocolate Eruption and they’ve got… ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2014, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-do-if-you-got-stuck-in-a-freezer/695180/10 "2014-08-11T20:53:51Z")
If you can’t immediately get out or disable the cooling system from inside the freezer, then you better insulate yourself to buy time. Empty every damn container in there and use the available plastic bags to insulate yourself. Several layers of plastic bags (with at least a head hole - arm holes are optional) over your body will help. The large bags can be used poncho-style, while smaller bags can be stuffed inside that to create more layers of insulation. This arrangement should allow you some mobility while you continue to either pound on the door or work on finding a way to open it, or pursue deactivation of the cooling system. If you can’t rip out wires/conduit (insulate your hands for that!), then try to jam the fans with something so they stop blowing air over the cooling coils. If/when you finally realize that your best bet is to wait for folks to show up in the morning, then it’s time to hunker down for the night. Make a shelter out of the cardboard, located in a relatively calm part of the freezer (i.e. not out where the cooling system is blowing fresh cold air in), get inside, and tough it out. Use all the cardboard and plastic bags you have available. ---
**Author:** ![Dale\_Sams](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/779978/32.png) [@Dale\_Sams](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dale_Sams)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2014, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-do-if-you-got-stuck-in-a-freezer/695180/11 "2014-08-11T21:00:56Z")
Since we’re talking about walk-in freezers: Are they any good for tornadoes or nuclear attacks? ---
**Author:** ![Oakminster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/77aa72/32.png) [@Oakminster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oakminster)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2014, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-do-if-you-got-stuck-in-a-freezer/695180/12 "2014-08-11T21:08:39Z")
> [@Dale\_Sams](#): > > Since we’re talking about walk-in freezers: Are they any good for tornadoes or nuclear attacks? Nah, the fan motor isn’t strong enough to generate much wind, and they don’t explode. ---
**Author:** ![Count\_Blucher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Count\_Blucher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Count_Blucher)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2014, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-do-if-you-got-stuck-in-a-freezer/695180/13 "2014-08-11T21:15:49Z")
Search your pockets for whatever objects you have with you: keys, knives, multi tools, lighters, spare change, etc. Fire alarm is easiest, but if not see if you can rig something to move the door handle / door latch internal workings. Remember: a multi-tool and a dime is a decent ratchet screw driver, which if you start disassembling things, can either give you more parts to use singly, or more parts to build a better tool that will help you. Be creative and don’t let fear or panic make you strip any screws. Finger-tight the nuts/bolts/screws until the tool your are making proves effective, Then add some torque. ---
**Author:** ![Kimballkid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b5a626/32.png) [@Kimballkid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimballkid)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2014, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-do-if-you-got-stuck-in-a-freezer/695180/14 "2014-08-11T21:30:10Z")
Since most of those ‘emergency’ buttons are just a stick that pushes the outside handle, I’d just try to find something to stick in the hole that was left when the old one broke and push the outside handle. ---
**Author:** ![tapu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/49beb7/32.png) [@tapu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tapu)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2014, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-do-if-you-got-stuck-in-a-freezer/695180/15 "2014-08-11T21:45:43Z")
This happened to me when I was little. My dad owned a grocery store and he was a butcher. I was following whoever went in there, back and forth, in and out. Then somehow I missed “out.” Here’s what I did: screamed and cried and wailed. I could see through the front windows where the clerks and my dad were waiting on people, cutting meat, wrapping the packages. Finally, after what seemed like hours but I have no idea how long, somebody came in to get something. Not sure it was a freezer, really, but it was one mo-fo scary meat locker with halves of beef hanging up on hooks, and pans of things that looked like intestines and hearts and gizards and tongue. Offal. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2014, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-do-if-you-got-stuck-in-a-freezer/695180/16 "2014-08-11T23:04:19Z")
> [@garygnu](#): > > and they’ve got Chocolate Eruption Yeah, sorry about that. I ate a bunch of those frozen burritos before I remembered there was no toilet in here. ---
**Author:** ![Lanzy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/74df32/32.png) [@Lanzy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lanzy)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2014, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-do-if-you-got-stuck-in-a-freezer/695180/17 "2014-08-11T23:13:20Z")
Block the fan, rip electric wires out, throw large frozen things at the glass and or walls to make a hole. Depends on the model but most of those things aren’t meant to stop that much force.