Elevator Adventure 2018

  We were on our way to the second-floor exhibits of the museum.  We got into the elevator.  The doors closed.  We pushed the buttons and nothing happened.  We tried all the buttons, even the “door open” one, and nothing happened. Here we were stuck in an elevator at the Water Works museum in Las Vegas, Nevada.

         

Using the emergency phone, Rich then called to alert security we were trapped in the elevator. 

“We will send someone to get you out.”

10 minutes later--knock, knock. “You folks alright?”

“Yes, we are fine.  Can you open the door?”

“How many of you in there?”

“Just two 74-year-old people.”

“I’m going to get a mechanic.”

10 minutes later we heard clanging and knocking on the door.

“You folks alright?”

“We are fine.”

“We are working on it.”

Meanwhile, we are laughing, making jokes, and very confident we will be rescued.  We remembered Rich’s mother saying you should always have clean underwear in case you have to be rescued and you won’t be embarrassed.

10 minutes later, we heard knocking on the other door, as this was a double opening elevator.

“You folks ok?”

“We’re fine.”

“Do you need anything?”

“How about a cup of coffee and maybe some donuts?” I giggled.

“We’ll get you out soon.”

We were sitting comfortably on the floor. After 45 minutes, a fireman pulled the doors apart with 6 other firemen peering in.

“You can come out now,” he said, in a somewhat stern voice.

As we quickly exited a security officer said:  “Will you folks wait until we get some personal information so we can make our report.” 

I counted 10 firemen, 2 paramedics, and 4 security officers on the scene.  After taking our information, the security officer offered us a ride to our car in the parking lot which was not too far away.

On the ride to our car, I asked the security officer, “How many people were there to rescue us?”

“2 fire trucks, 1 ambulance.“

“Why so many?”

“People react differently to these kinds of situations.  We take no chances.  You folks seem to take this in stride.”

Remembering the plane crash in Zambia and the auto accident in Cambodia, I said quietly, “We’ve been in worse.”

Two weeks later, we got a written apology for the inconvenience and complimentary tickets for four for a future return trip to the museum.