911
Well, I called 911 for the first time ever yesterday :P
My co-worker, who is elderly, called a little bit after she left last evening... she was stuck in the elevator on the second floor! It took forever for me to get ahold of someone in building maintenance because it was "after hours". I then run down the stairs so that I can be outside the elevator just in case.
That floor has a school on it, where people were milling around trying to be "helpful" My coworker is evidently very claustrophobic, and was complaining that she couldn't breathe, and that there was no air in the elevator - she was lying on the floor.
A few minutes later maintenance came up - and looked over the situation, and said that there was a tool he had that could open up the elevator.. per company policy he wasn't supposed to do that, but he would anyway. So he went to go get the tool (I don't know why he didn't bring it to begin with :P)
Meanwhile, my coworker was getting worse... and no sign of the maintenance guy, and I thought she was really going to have a stroke or something - so I called 911, and the firemen who arrived just a few seconds after the maintenance guy released the elevator doors (they were really quick) At that time, she'd been in the elevator for a half hour.
I'd been holding the door open to let some air in, and so I could talk to her (bruised the crap out of my fingers too...) - she came out really shaky, but didn't want to go to the hospital.. the courtesy sheriff was freaking out (because of liability) and wouldn't let her *not* have him call the paramedics. I very nicely asked if there was a paramedic with the firemen... who asked her a few questions, determined it was ok, and went on their way.
Fortunately that appeased the sheriff, and we got out of that zoo.
I'm less than pleased that it takes our building over a half an hour to respond to this problem... what if she'd been having a heart attack? (well, if I thought it was anything worse than claustrophobia, I would have called 911 a lot sooner) The fire department was stellar though.
My co-worker, who is elderly, called a little bit after she left last evening... she was stuck in the elevator on the second floor! It took forever for me to get ahold of someone in building maintenance because it was "after hours". I then run down the stairs so that I can be outside the elevator just in case.
That floor has a school on it, where people were milling around trying to be "helpful" My coworker is evidently very claustrophobic, and was complaining that she couldn't breathe, and that there was no air in the elevator - she was lying on the floor.
A few minutes later maintenance came up - and looked over the situation, and said that there was a tool he had that could open up the elevator.. per company policy he wasn't supposed to do that, but he would anyway. So he went to go get the tool (I don't know why he didn't bring it to begin with :P)
Meanwhile, my coworker was getting worse... and no sign of the maintenance guy, and I thought she was really going to have a stroke or something - so I called 911, and the firemen who arrived just a few seconds after the maintenance guy released the elevator doors (they were really quick) At that time, she'd been in the elevator for a half hour.
I'd been holding the door open to let some air in, and so I could talk to her (bruised the crap out of my fingers too...) - she came out really shaky, but didn't want to go to the hospital.. the courtesy sheriff was freaking out (because of liability) and wouldn't let her *not* have him call the paramedics. I very nicely asked if there was a paramedic with the firemen... who asked her a few questions, determined it was ok, and went on their way.
Fortunately that appeased the sheriff, and we got out of that zoo.
I'm less than pleased that it takes our building over a half an hour to respond to this problem... what if she'd been having a heart attack? (well, if I thought it was anything worse than claustrophobia, I would have called 911 a lot sooner) The fire department was stellar though.