The eternal three minutes

I got stuck in an elevator today. All by myself. The whole ordeal seemed like an eternity. When I first started working in the ATG building, I was warned by the other student assistant that the elevator was not to be trusted. Oh, I believed her, but nothing happened to me for nearly two years. All that changed today.

As I was traveling up to the sixth floor, the elevator moved up and down, and then it stopped. The doors didn't open. I pressed the "open" button several times. Still nothing. Oh crap. Crap, crap, crap, crap, crap.

Then, I had to do something I'd never done before: I called the emergency phone by pressing a red button. It was basically a speakerphone, and I was relieved to hear someone answer. Unfortunately, the connection was pretty bad; the guy kept asking me to repeat which floor I was on. There was no way I could know for sure, but I said the sixth floor. I wanted to tell him I was in the ATG building and would someone please hurry, but I never got around to it. Our conversation was very brief, and it ended with him saying he was sending someone over.

That was slightly comforting. But how long would it take before that someone arrived? I couldn't decide what to do with myself. Should I pace? Should I stand against the elevator wall in case it falls like it has in "Alias"? Should I sit on the floor? Constantly staring at my watch, I just stood still. Meanwhile, the emergency phone was making weird noises before it hung up.

I never actually ended up being rescued in a dramatic way. (I imagined being pulled out between floors or at least climbing to safety with the aid of a helping hand.) Instead, someone had pressed a button to use the elevator. The elevator moved "normally" to the 4th floor, and I was free at last. I warned the person that I just got stuck in the elevator, and he opted to take the stairs.

From here on out, I'm taking the stairs as much as possible.