You know that gap between the elevator and the floor you are on? Ever wonder what would happen if you dropped something down there? I have had that very thought on more than one occasion.
I had something to do after work today, and I was already late when I packed up and hit the elevator button. My keys were in my hand and I was fiddling with them when the elevator door opened. As I stepped into the elevator, my keys dropped from my hand; keys on the floor and keyless remote dangling over “the gap”. In what seemed like slow motion, I bent down to pick them and just then the remote won out and they slipped down the gap.
All I could muster was “Oh Shit” as they banged their way down to some unknown place.
I immediately went to the security office hoping they could do something. The security guard paged building maintenance and Darrel says “no problem”. We take the elevator to the bottom floor, send it back up, and he uses his special key to get in the elevator shaft. We look around, but there’s no keys down there. About $3 in change, countless gum and candy wrappers, but no keys. Darrel says “Are you sure you were in this elevator?” We repeat the same procedure floor by floor thinking that maybe they got hung up on somewhere in the shaft. I wasn’t worried about the keys, because the maintenance guy said the elevator people would come in Monday and do a better search. If we can’t find them, I’ll have to call my security officer and let him know I lost my keys. After hours. Then another thought hits me; how do I get home?
As we’re on our pursuit, Darrel says somebody drops something down the shaft about once a month, which surprises me. He suggests we go back down to the basement and look around again. We look in the same shaft and still no dice. He suggests we take a peek in the other elevator shaft with the possibility that the keys bounced around in the shaft. Sure enough, there they were. He smiles at me and says “You were in this one, weren’t you?”
The only problem was my keyless entry remote didn’t survive the drop. As luck has it, I keep my keys to the car inside the car and use the remote to open the door. Quickly, I realize I’m taking the train home tonight.
Moral of the story: Keep you keys in your pants until you get to your car.
6 comments:
I've never had it happen, but I've had the fear it would.
Keys are in pocket always, that gap is far too large sometimes :)
Now, I can tell you what happens to a cell phone that drops, hits the ceramic floor with a loud "smack". I wanted a new one anyway.
I used to have a Lincoln with an external keypad. Very handy for hot days, could lock the car while running quick errands. Sure enough one day I left the accessory on, radio turned down but on and engine off for entire day. Those tow-truck drivers take one second to slim-jim in.
But of course, today everything is going rfid.
Two more bizzaro keyfob issues in autoweek.
The stairs don't have a gap... :)
Tim...
Hahaha...that's a good one. So how late did you ended being?
They should fill that gap in with a rubber or a bristle hair thingy which is still flexible but yet strong enough to stop most stuff from falling through. Hey, maybe I can patent that!
But Jeff, keys in the car? Even with a remote, I wouldn't leave the car keys in the car. Too easy to jimmy the locks on the car.
So how late did you ended being?
Stayed an hour late at work, but got home about 3 hours later because of train schedules.
They should fill that gap in with a rubber or a bristle hair thingy which is still flexible but yet strong enough to stop most stuff from falling through. Hey, maybe I can patent that!
There you go, TNBT!
But Jeff, keys in the car? Even with a remote, I wouldn't leave the car keys in the car. Too easy to jimmy the locks on the car.
Well, normally I wouldn't leave the keys in the car. Our parking garage is secure and I keep the keys hidden.
Usually, the gad between the elevator and the floor is not that far. Perhaps only rare intances have prompted some accidents. However, it is possible that objects do fall. The most important accessories should be taken into consideration. It is hard to predict what will happen while going out of the elevator
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