Stiebel gets stuck in an elevator

I considered giving this post a different title because I didn't want to ruin the punchline of this story.  But then I realized that my friends will flock to read any story titled "Stiebel [did something stupid]".



So here's the story:

Wednesday morning.  Virginia.  8:30 am.

Snow storm.

My flight leaves Richmond airport at 11 am.  The airport shuttle leaves the hotel at 9 am.  It's 8:30 am, and I still need to drop off my rental car, pack, eat breakfast (if possible), and get to the shuttle.

Despite a ridiculous blizzard (20+ inches, very few snow plows), I managed to get to the rental car place safely, and one of the staff drove me back to the hotel (in a huge kick-ass monster truck).  So I'm back in my room by 8:45 am.

I decide to call the front desk to check on the shuttle.  The lady at the desk tells me that the shuttle has been cancelled, and that my flight has also probably been cancelled.  But there is a taxi leaving in 10 minutes going to the airport.  (And apparently all the other taxi companies have refused to drive to the airport in the blizzard.)

So now I have less than 10 minutes to gather my things and get to the front of the hotel.  so I quickly zip up my over-stuffed suitbag, and start lugging it down the hallway.  But my computer and laptop bag is on the 4th floor!  Argh!

So I jump in the elevator, hit #4.

The elevator goes up to the 4th floor, the doors open 1 inch and stop.  The elevator is stuck.  FML

I push the door, thinking maybe it just needs a nudge.  Nothing.
I kick the door, thinking maybe the door needs to know who's the boss.  Nothing.
I hit #4 again.  Nothing.
I hit 'Door Open'.  Nothing.
I cry.  Nothing.  (Actually, I did not cry.  I think I may have laughed, though.)

son.of.a.bitch.  Of all the possible times to get stuck in an elevator, it had to be this particular morning.

So I start ringing the emergency bell button.  But then I realize that this emergency button is actually just a bell.  It doesn't do anything useful!  It just rings a bell for as long as you hold it.  Basically, anyone standing outside the elevator probably just thinks, "O, there must be some mischievous kid in there playing with the emergency button."  WTF?!

Luckily, I had cell phone service, so I called the front desk, and told them my predicament.  The front desk called the engineers on call, who said they would be there in 10 minutes.  But I don't have 10 minutes!

Finally, after about 5 minutes, I hear the engineers, and then after a few more minutes, the elevator goes DOWN.  Wrong way dudes!  They take me all the way down to the 1st floor to let me out!  But I need to get my bag on the 4th floor.

Obviously, the guy won't let me get back in the elevator to go back up to the 4th floor (although I was totally willing to try it again.)  So I have to run to the far end of the building to the other elevator.  I run up to the 4th floor, to the room where my laptop is....and the room is locked!  What the hell?!

So I have to run to the hotel office down the hall, and luckily someone was there with the key.  They opened the room; I grabbed my bag, and ran back to the good elevator, down to the main floor, and....

...and apparently the shuttle wasn't cancelled.  The hotel lady was totally wrong.  In fact, the shuttle wasn't even leaving until 9:15-ish.  So I had some extra time.  In fact, I had time to grab a full breakfast (scrambled eggs and bacon fruit roll-up) and relax a little bit (and tell people about the elevator.)  So much for all the running around.

In the end, I got to the airport with time to spare.  No problems.  Fell asleep before take-off.  It was wonderful.  And fortunately, we did not encounter any elevators during the flight home.