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People often have a fascination
with buttons on walls, new cars, elevators
and wonder,
“What does this button do ?”
At least I do. Even if it’s labeled.
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The eternal question.
Along with, “Does it really ‘do’ that?”
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One day I had the experience of dealing with
the bright red “STOP” button in an elevator.
It’s the emergency button that will
bring the elevator to a screeching halt
when pulled, whether it needs to be pulled or not !
I’m sure a lot of people have been tempted
to pull the button to see if it really works.
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One day when I was working
it was interesting to say the least
to be the head nurse.
One of the CNAs came to me and said,
“The elevator is stuck between the floors
and we can’t figure out why.”
One of the staff went to get the “key”
that would bring the elevator to the basement.
It wasn’t where they thought it would be.
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By the time we called the owner of the facility,
they determined that a confused lady
was on the stopped elevator !
Somehow she was nearby
when a visitor got off the elevator,
they didn’t realize
she shouldn’t go on the elevator by herself
since she “looked” like a visitor,
they held the door for her,
so she walked into the elevator
and the door closed.
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Then someone called the elevator
to the first floor…
when the elevator started to move,
the lady pulled the big red “stop” button:
The elevator did stop. Immediately.
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So, hearing this,
I went to the first floor where the staff
was saying to the elevator door:,
“Sue” (not her real name) “push the red button IN“
over and over ! There was only silence.
Finally, the key for the elevator was found
(in an obvious place, of course),
someone tall was found to insert the key,
and the elevator was lowered to the basement.
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The door opened and Sue came out smiling.
Not frightened at all.
When asked “what happened” she went to the
big red button and pointed to it and said,
“I stopped the elevator, just like it said”.
Then they asked, “why wouldn’t you push it in ?
Didn’t you hear us calling to you? “
“Yes,” she said. ” I heard you. But it says
“In an emergency PULL the button“…so I did.”
Sigh.
All’s well that ends well.
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PS. Please note that at that time, maybe still,
there were only two public elevators
in my small town.
The hospital and the nursing facility
where I worked…were the
only public buildings with two floors…
three if you count the basement where the
kitchen is…the kitchen at the nursing facility
has its own elevator stories to tell. ☺.
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For Inspiration Monday. We had five prompts to choose from:
The Prompts:
The unanswered phone; Hopeful romantic; Friends in low places*
Dissected heart; What does this button do?
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siggiofmaine 