This is bizarre and I can’t figure it out. Every day this week when I come home from work at night, I have found 4-5 quarters stuffed in a small metal grate at the bottom of a wall in my apartment elevator. I use my key to pull them out through the bars, and then the next night they are back!! This happened Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and then again just now!
Why are they there? Why do they keep coming back?
Someone is putting them there.
Are you sure you’re not stuck in a vending machine?
Somewhere else on the Internet someone has posted a thread saying:
[QUOTE=Somebody Else]
This is bizarre and I can’t figure it out. Every day this week when I come home from work at night, I stuff 4-5 quarters into a small metal grate at the bottom of a wall in my apartment elevator to keep out the ants. I use my key to push them through the bars, and then the next night they are gone!! This happened Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and then again just now!
Why are they missing? Don’t they know about the ant problem?
[/QUOTE]
I’ve heard of the Tooth Fairy (though when I was a wee lass, she only dispensed nickels and dimes to the Bodoni kids) but I’ve never, ever heard of an Elevator Fairy.
This is going to keep me guessing at odd hours of the day and night, I just know it. I can imagine some drunk doing this once. I can imagine some kid doing it a couple of times, just for a prank. I can’t imagine someone doing it every day.
I keep saying that cats is weird. Peoples is weird, too, I guess.
So you’ve gained about $5 so far? Don’t complain, it might stop! 
It could be someone in a parallel universe.
Someone has installed a hidden video camera, and is paying you your commission for being the star on their live-cam website called bentoverbutts.com
I never heard of coin-operated elevators before. Is this the trending thing?
Your elevator seems to reject a lot of the quarters people put in, and dumps them into the coin return slot.
(I’m having a hard time picturing what “a small metal grate at the bottom of a wall in my apartment elevator” looks like.)
It’s a trap. The coins are bait.
Are there coin operated car washes or vending machines nearby? It could be Starlingsstashing their ill-gotten loot. Being in an elevator packrats may be more likely.
Either way, free quarters!
Are the coins…hollow?
Fake?
Are the coins made of chocolate?
I lived in Italy prior to the Euro conversion. Many apartment elevators took a 10 Lira coin to operate. As the 10 Lira coin was nearly extinct, many of these apartment buildings would mount a small bowl of coins for use. One friend had a bit of fishing line attached to a coin so he could get to his apartment. I assume they still exist in some areas.
Maybe you have new Italian immigrant neighbors and they couldn’t find anyplace to drop the coin(s)?
The grate. (There are two of them on each wall. The coins only appear in this one.)
A very tiny man is being held prisoner in the back of your elevator and he’s hoping he can bribe you to free him.
It’s a meme.
Why are you peering into a tiny grate next to the floor to find money in it?
My kiddo (almost 3) loves carrying change, and will insert a coin into anything that looks like it wants a coin. Do you ever see small children on the elevator?
It’s a poor leprechaun’s pot o’ gold.
