MyLine:Mr. Smooth

Bitter-sweet times in a broken down elevator.

Date published: 3/8/2005

There are great things about living in a dorm. I've met some amazing people and had some good times hanging out, watching TV and telling jokes and stories.

You really get to know people when you're stuck in an elevator with them for an hour.

It was late Sunday afternoon. I was on my way to Mass at the cathedral about a block away. As I was waiting for the elevator, I discovered that two of my fellow floormates (and two of the aforementioned amazing people), Cooper and Joannah, were also heading outside. With Joannah were her brother and two of her friends.

This brings the total number of people heading into the elevator to six. Six is the maximum number of people that are supposed to be on the elevators. In August, some intelligent students decided to fit eight in.

This proved unsuccessful, and the elevator got stuck, resulting in the fire department coming to get them out.

Seeing as how there were six of us, we were unconcerned. We all got in without difficulty and pressed the button to the first floor. We headed down, casually chatting and commenting on the weather.

As we reached the sixth floor, there was a sudden horrible sound. Our eyes became wide and our mouths hung open as the red No. 6 flashed next to the unopen doors.

Oh, there was more to it--not only were the doors not opening, but the elevator wasn't moving. We pressed up, we pressed down. We frantically hit the button for the doors to open.

"Oh my God," Cooper said. "It's stuck. The elevator is stuck."

We uttered various obscenities and rested our heads against the wall in frustration.

Joannah laughed, "I've been waiting for this to happen--I have literally been waiting all year. It's just--this is just perfect."

There's a button you can hit that calls the front security desk. We alerted them to our situation. Unfortunately, they had to summon The Greatest Man in the Universe (the maintenance guy who could unjam the elevator for us), and they didn't know where he was, and it would probably be awhile.

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Date published: 3/8/2005