you-had-to-be-there moments pt 2

fast forward to friday night about midnight. normally we do setup for our events in two days but for scheduling reasons we had to do it in one. we'd worked from 7am until a little after 11, stopped off for a late snack and headed to the hotel. to say we were slaphappy is an understatement. we (david, jay, jen & macall) got onto the elevator to head to our rooms shortly after midnight. macall forgot to push her button for 3 and we were laughing about it and jay said she should get out with them on 7 and then go back down. we were laughing and she forgot to get off at 7 so she decided to ride all the way to the top (12) with david and i. we were laughing some more when the elevator jerked to an odd stop and then nothing. the door didn't open. we all look at each other (david, macall and i). david tries his key since 12 is a key access floor. nothing. i try hitting the door open button. again, nothing. i start figuring out the phone and david is telling me not to panic. i'm not panicking, i just want someone to come get us out.

after the call to the hotel operator, she sends up engineering. engineering can't help and calls the elevator repair company at which point i recommend calling the fire department. david tells me to stop telling them how to rescue us. i tell him that hey, if we're getting rescued the chances are way more in favor of cute fireman than in cute elevator repairmen. instead hotel management comes up and tries to pry open the doors with little success. by this time, david, macall and i have discussed whether or not they could get pillows into us, water and snack supply between us and whether or not the elevator car will drop. david begins taking pictures. someone else tries to get the door open and david snaps a pic. when the flash goes off, a stern voice warns david that if we want out of there we need to quit taking pics because he can't see with the flash going off. this person gets the door open about an actual inch--just enough for david to see that he's actually dc metro pd. he can't get the doors further than that and we hear him calling dispatch for fire and rescue. at which point the operator calls us back and tells us the fire department is on the way. a little bit later we're told the fire department is there and we'll be out in another 15-20 minutes. at last the firemen open the door just wide enough for us to climb down and out. the elevator car had overshot the 12th floor by about 2 1/2 feet. 3 of the firemen were holding the door open for us to get through and the fourth one (the only cute one) stood to one side and watched as we climbed through them holding the door open and jumped to the actual floor. finally we were out more than 45 minutes after we went in.

the whole thing was a little surreal. the one hotel manager who was there when we were rescued told us he'd contact us the next day about compensation. he never did. we contacted the manager on duty who called me back but i missed his call. i called him back and left two messages, neither of which were returned. truthfully, i was so happy to be out, compensation wouldn't have occured to me. however, since they brought it up, they could have at least followed through. i think i'll be writing their corporate office.

i'll post the other two moments tomorrow.