Sun 8 Oct 2006
I’m in Bern tonight and a weird thing happened to me. Everything went smooth along the way. It’s Switzerland after all, so everything works and works on time – until I reached the hotel. After checking in I went to a lift to get to my room. And I got stuck there.
The lift stopped with a thud about 5 feet above the first floor. After 10 minutes the two female receptionists managed to open the external door but the internal door did open only for about 4-5 inches (10cm) and then was stuck. And so was I. After some effort to restart the lift (they brought me a key which I tried on a lock on the control panel with no effect) they called for the OTIS service. They brought me a panini and a cup of tea and suggested some alcohol. I don’t drink alone in the elevators, so I declined their kind offer.
I did take out my PB, did some work on the presentation for tomorrow, ate my supper and chatted with receptionist who came to check on me from time to time. (Why didn’t she get stuck with me? 🙂 ) After half an hour a team of three technicians appeared, looking very serious in their OTIS overalls with all kinds of tools on their belts and walkie-talkies. They tried to reset the lift, but it didn’t work. In the end they had to manually raise the elevator up one floor so that I could go out.
All in all it was rather funny. Supposedly it’s the first time someone got stuck in a lift here. It’s quite possible, since the hotel is just 2 years old. It had to be me :). I was laughing and joking with the hotel staff all the time. At the end the manager came to shake my hand and that was really funny, because he had such a serious look on his face I really had to restrain myself from laughing at him. 😉
Nevertheless, it’s the first time I ate panini and worked on a presentation inside a lift.
October 9th, 2006 at 7:22
Happens everyday here at the hospital.
Our elevators are almost 30 years old, and are about to be replaced.
The inner door of the elevator has a safety mechcanism that will not let it open more than a few inches when not at the normal door opening space, to keep people from trying to get out on their own.
If the device is moved from the machine room, either automatically or by the over-ride switch used by the technician, you’d be cut in half if it started moving with you sneaking out! A good safety device.
Sounds like you made the best of a bad situation. Ken
October 19th, 2006 at 0:21
This is my reoccuring nightmare…trapped on an elevator. You handled it marvelously.