why mandy takes the stairs...

i'm just going to launch right into this, some of you know about it, some of you don't, and some of you were present...

i took time off work for christmas to go on vacation with my family so when i went back to work on thursday the 4th, I was feeling really out of the loop, like i'd been gone for a very long time and had way too much to do with not enough time, so i was ready to work hard on friday.

friday started out strangely, normally i'm not the first one up because my dad and sister and i all leave the house at around the same time and my mom gets up with us because she's nice like that. so i got up to take a shower and the entire house was dark. strange, but not completely unexplained because my sister's high school starts late on random fridays and my dad gets every other friday off. So when i got out of the shower and still didn't have anybody up, i thought that was getting stranger so i went to get dressed. while i was putting on my makeup, my dad came and knocked on my door and told me my mom had the flu - thereby explaining the complete lack of activity upstairs. i went up and packed my lunch and fixed my breakfast with my dad hovering nearby - completely useless, but trying to be helpful... by this time, i was late leaving for work and i knew i had a 9:00 meeting so it was crucial that i get there on time (by 8) so i could prepare for it.

of course, because i was running late, i ran into more traffic than usual! so when i got to work, i felt fortunate that i was only 20 minutes later than usual. being lazy and pressed for time, i decided to take the elevator to the 6th floor of the building because that's a lot of stairs to climb when you're in a hurry.

i got on the elevator on the 2nd floor and being distracted and ditzy, hit the button for 2. then i realized what i was doing and pushed 6.

the doors closed and the elevator started moving - down! the doors opened on the first floor and the button for 2 lit up. i thought that was strange but figured it didn't know what to do because i had requested the floor it was already on. then, it went up and it opened on 3 but the lights said 1. getting stranger, but still not a big deal. finally i made it to 6 and the light above the door said 6 and the bell dinged, but the doors didn't open.

i pushed the door open button and nothing happened. then i tried the 6 button again, still nothing. i worked my way through all the buttons in the elevator and then tried to open the little door at the bottom for the emergency phone, but it was stuck!

i whipped out my cell phone, a little concerned, and called lisa and said "this is the weirdest phone call i've ever had to make, but I'm stuck in the elevator... and explained my situation.

she tried pushing the elevator call button to let me out and when that didn't happen she alerted the receptionist in our office who called the building manager. she came running and stood outside the elevator shouting in, asking me if i was okay (and sounding a good deal more upset than i felt). they told me that the elevator company wasn't answering and so i would need to use the phone in the elevator.

i got down on my hands and knees and tugged as hard as i could on that stupid little door and finally it popped open. i pushed the call button and was connected with the sandy fire department. the nice woman on the other end of the phone said that she would send someone right out, and to just stay calm. i didn't think that would be a problem because i thought the whole situation was actually pretty funny, especially considering one of my new years resolutions was to take the stairs from then on. and i was excited about the possibility of meeting a cute fire fighter, who was coming to rescue me!

while i was waiting, my boss came out and shouted in that he was sorry i was stuck, and this was the only time i could use that excuse :-) then he told me if i got bored, he'd round up a group and they'd come sing through the elevator doors to keep me entertained.

i went back to waiting and text messaged almost everybody whose number was in my phone because i was getting bored and kept thinking about what i would do if the elevator broke and dropped... not comforting! finally the repair guy got there (not a fireman like i had hoped, or even a cute man). he might have been old and fat, but he was a sight for sore eyes.

in total i was stuck for 30 minutes. i made it to my meeting on time and didn't even have the worst elevator experience of the day... one of the other girls in our office got stuck in a big accident on the freeway so she got there after i made it out of the elevator and got in the same elevator. she was trapped and then it suddenly dropped down a couple feet (a much bigger deal when you're actually in the elevator) and she only got out when one of the guys on the 5th floor pushed the elevator button to go up to the meeting and it opened.

so that's my story of the elevator. the moral is keep your new years resolutions!