Aw Geeze, I have to use those things when servicing fire extinguishers in several of our grain elevators. What a pain, I’m a big guy and it takes a lot of counterweight to be able to even pull myself up, along with the load of fire extinguishers.
I hate 'em!
How would you like to get on one of these?
But there’s always the chance that you won’t get to your floor right away. The elevator could get stuck, and you’d be in there, staring at the wall inches in front of your face, unable to move your arms more than a few inches, for hours. Fortunately I gave you a ventilation grate in the O.P., but even then it’s going to start getting real stuffy and hard to breathe soon.
I really can’t believe you people would get on this elevator.
I’m not claustrophobic. I have borne in mind the age of the building and the elevator. I daresay there’s a greater chance of these particular elevators (in the Newbury Street buildings) breaking down than the big, modern fancy elevators elsewhere. However, it really just does not bug me that much. One gets stuck standing in worse situations riding the T during rush-hour, and when things break down, sometimes for quite some time, just hanging out on a train packed with sweaty humanity, in a tunnel. If that doesn’t bother me, then nor does the elevator particularly. Calculated risks.
No discussion on tiny elevators is complete without a mention of the Arch in St. Louis. They are little pod-shaped things, fit six people, and you have to sit down on a little stool in them. Linky.
I used one of the little tiny ones at a unviersity building in Ghent-- the thing might have held 2 people of they were good friends.
I rode in a Pater Noster a couple of times-- at least into the 90s there was one at the mensa building at Vienna’s university. A couple of pals tested it out and rode it past the top to prove that it stayed upright and didn’t like flip over. Not really fast things but they can move craploads of people.
I used a rather small lift (elevator) on holiday in Cyprus in the 80’s - it must have been less than one metre square and had no internal door - you just saw the wall sliding past as you went up or down. I can’t imagine it will still be in operation today.
Was that, by any chance, the Hotel de la Faculte? Because I just happened to spend a few days there when I was in Paris last July and it was exactly as you described. In fact, since I am (ahem) somewhat large, I couldn’t even take a suitcase with me. I had someone stationed on the main floor putting in my suitcases and reaching inside to push the button for my floor. Luckily, I was only on the second floor.
Other than that, it was a great hotel at a great price, not fancy but really cheap. (Good size bathroom in the suite, good water pressure and heat.) And it was a great location, not far from the Sorbonne, Notre Dame and the Latin Quarter.
(everyone else, sorry for the hijack)
The worst lift was in a Budapest hotel: it wasn’t small, just unreliable. So much so that the door-release key had its own special hook beside the reception desk, so anybody could access it.
Much to kferr’s amused fascination, they had a lift exactly like that in the city centre hotel we stayed in for the DopeFest in Prague at the tail end of last year; so they’re still in operation there!
I know it’s wrong, but I love old buildings with freaky small cars, hand opened doors, or manual controls (up/down, and it’s up to you to “match” the floor levels).
I could ride these for hours, and have been known to hop in one for a single floor rise. Something I’m unlikely to do for a “new fangled” huge elevator car.
-Butler
I’ve had dreams like that where I’ve had to get dressed and go outside because my house wasn’t big enough to alleviate the feeling of claustrophobia. In real life I would feel comfortable in a small elevator if I knew I could climb out the top of it because it is the feeling of entrapment that is disconcerting.
I rode a freakily small elevator in Shanghai, I estimate (generously) that it was about 3’ by 3’, and it included a manual operator (very tiny old chinese woman) seated on a small one-legged stool in the corner working the lever. We were able to get three of us inside, with one of us sitting on the old lady’s lap (which she insisted on, so that she didn’t have to make an extra trip). At first, I was worried that the two other people may have been leading me into a kidnapping or kidney-stealing situation (they had asked me to come up into the building to sell me some artwork), but no one was in any position to even wiggle a finger, let alone assault someone. We spilled out into a rather nice art studio and I picked up some gorgeous watercolors for dirt cheap. Got to keep my kidneys also.
I would walk farther down the hall for the express purpose of using the tiny elevator instead of the normal one with other people getting on and off and sticking their umbrellas in my elbows and talking past me and etc.
I don’t have thing-claustrophobia, only people-claustrophobia.
I’ve also thought it would be cool to sleep in one of those “file-cabinet” beds like they have in the morgues. Maybe have a whole wall of them and instead of paying hotel rates you just put down a couple dollars for a key that makes one slide out, you climb in, hit the button and it slides in with you inside.
I’ve ridden in many tiny elevators i NYC and Paris. They are great for making out as she has no room to flee.
You are an elevator fear amateur! If you climb out the top, the elevator will suddenly start upward, and you will be smushed to jelly at the top.
I figure the odds are in my favor.
What if as soon as the door closed, you realized there was a big hairy spider dropping down from the ceiling about to land in your hair? ( Remember that you can barely move your arms.)
Would I ride in a tiny elevator? I would not.
[hijack]
Capsule Hotels are pretty close to what you’re thinking of - I wish they had them in DC. It would be a pretty cool way of providing the homeless with a place to sleep for the night.
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