Indiana Jones and the Elevators of Doom.

The building I work in was built around 1912, and is on the National Register of Historical Places for being the first skyscraper in Richmond. Strictly speaking, the elevators in the building don’t date back that far; if for no other reason, because they don’t have elevator operators driving us to the appropriate floors. But they probably date back to the mid- or early-sixties, as they have buttons that depress (and illuminate) when you push them, and not flat-panel buttons that light up when touched. And I’m not sure that the elevators have received any serious maintenance since then.

It’s always entertaining to get into one of these elevators, because you never know how it’s going to behave. Is this the trip that gets stuck between floors for a half-hour? Is this the one where the elevator doors don’t even begin to close for 45 seconds after you’ve punched the button for the floor you want to go to, or the one which begins or ends with a six-inch drop? Is this the ride where the elevator doors will open with an eight-inch step up to the destination floor?

I got into the elevator on the 17th floor, and pushed the button for the lobby. Went down to the 16th floor. Doors opened, and a couple of attorneys came in. They checked to see that the Lobby button was already pushed, and continued their discussion of whatever case they were working on. Doors closed. We didn’t move. After about 15 seconds – during which time it was clear they hadn’t noticed that the elevator wasn’t moving as they were too busy discussing confidential aspects of their client’s case – I asked if they could push a button, any button, in hopes of getting us moving again. One of them stared at me until she realized we hadn’t left the 16th floor yet, then waved her fingers over the panel of buttons without touching anything. It seemed to work, though, as we jerked into motion. Went down to the 12th floor, where a building maintenance person got in. He pushed the button for the 13th floor, and up we went.

The three of us who had been in the elevator stared at each other, and then pointed out to the maintenance guy that it certainly was strange that we just went up, as we’d been in the process of going down to the lobby. He looked at the panel, where the Lobby button was still lit, and agreed that it was odd, but since the elevator seemed to be working, it ought to take us to the lobby. He got out, and the doors closed.

We pushed the Lobby button again, and nothing happened. After 15 seconds, we pushed the Open Door button, and happily piled out, running into the maintenance guy – who was extremely surprised to see us again so soon. He agreed that perhaps the elevator was acting up, and did something to take it out of service.

The next elevator that came by properly delivered us to the lobby, but I stayed out of that particular elevator for the rest of the week.