Stuck

So, this morning, I literally had to bribe the heck out of myself to get out of bed and go to the gym. I don't actually remember what I promised myself (except buying this one song off of iTunes - it's a horrible bit of bubble gum pop that is on the gym's music channel a lot, and is disturbingly catchy - and loading it on the good iPod and taking that one to the gym), but, a half hour after I was supposed to get out of bed, I rolled into the gym. I did a half hour on the treadmill, didn't quite hit my target heart rate range, but got very sweaty and was nonetheless pleased that I actually made it.

So I come home, I shower, I walk the dog, I make it out the door on time, I get to work, all is well. I made good time. And then I get on the elevator in the basement, as per usual. I'm pulling the iPod out of my ears and fiddling with it when a very nice gentleman got on at the ground floor.

And then there was a clunk.

And we weren't moving.

The elevator seemed to think we were on the first floor. We thought we were probably a foot or two off the ground floor. We looked at each other. Nope, really not moving. I pushed the "door open" button. I tried to open the doors manually. No luck. He opened the panel marked "Fireman's Phone," but neither of us were firemen, so we lacked whatever key or device it took to make that work. I found the alarm button, and then finally saw the call button down near the floor.

The hospital police were very pleasant when we were like, "Uh, hi, we're stuck in the elevator." They were going to "try to find someone" in maintenance to come get us out.

Uh, okay, thanks. Meanwhile, we're still STUCK IN THE ELEVATOR.

Fortunately, neither of us was very freaked out by this. We had a nice chat. Turns out we have a mutual friend. He told me an interesting story about her I didn't know. At 7:55, I called the front desk (I had to hold my cell phone up near the top of the door and use the speakerphone to accomplish this) and was like, "Hey, it's Kate. I'm stuck in the employee elevator. Could you let my 8:00 know I'm going to be late?" The front desk staff was really amused...

But, after about fifteen or twenty minutes, maintenance finally showed up. The guy walked around on the top of the car for a while. That didn't work. And then eventually he got the doors open, and we were about four feet from the first floor. The officer that we'd been talking to through the doors and the maintenance guy were like, can you guys get out? The gentleman in the elevator with me was quite tall, so he was like, sure, no problem! And promptly hoisted himself out and went on his way.

I? Am not tall. I'm somewhat the opposite of tall. So I was like...can I get a step stool? But, ultimately, I stepped up on the handrail and crawled out. No problem.

It's good I've been going to the gym...