How long is 21 minutes exactly?

We work on the second floor of our building; and I love it. When fire alarms go off or elevators are out of service, we can take the 1 flight of stairs down to freedom.

However, today on the way downstairs to coffee break, we were told that the escalators were out of service due to some individuals moving a huge cabinet of some kind. "Take the elevator" she says....so we line up for the elevator. Screw the stairs!

So, the doors open and all 12 of us cram in....then *bounce*.

Hum. That couldn't have been good.

A couple of minutes go by.....So we ding the bell and the security guard on the other end says "Yeah. You guys ok"

Luigilover: "Yeah. No! We're STUCK!"
Clueless Security Guard: "Oh, Ok. Let me work on it!"

Luigilover: "Chop CHOP!"
Clueless Security Guard: "hahah"

Hum. That didn't instill a whole lot of confidence in me. At least my supervisor was with me. This was a legitimate late coming back from break time!

So 10 minutes go by and my co-worker "Patsy" looks over and says "You ok" to someone behind me. Oh God, someone's crying.

"I remember my daughter getting stuck in an elevator for 2 hours once!" says "Ivanka".

"Yeah, during the blackout, my co-worker was stuck for just as long!" says a stranger.

"It's been how long now!? 10 minutes?" says "Velma".

Oh God. Stop with the stories! Crying girl continues to freak out.

Strangers cellphones go off....jokes about missed meetings start to bring some chuckles around...but our attention continues to be drawn to the Crying girl. All we need is for her to lose it.

"Do you want my yogurt!" says Velma.

"No NO....." says Crying girl.

Oh God. I hit the bell again.

Clueless Security Guard: "Hello? Please try pressing a few of the buttons now"

Luigilover: *press*press* "It's not WORKING!"

What kind of clowns do they have working here!? HONESTLY!? Oh yeah. *I* work here. They're probably on their way to their breaks too!

Clueless Security Guard: "Is it working?"

Crying girl: *SOB*

Oh God.

15 minutes later......

Velma: "How long has it been now!? Call 911! Who has a cell phone?"
Crying girl: *SOB*

Stranger: "hit the button again...I'm seriously going to call if they don't open the doors soon"

Crying girl: *SOB*CRY*

Clueless Security Guard: "Yeah, we have our technician working on it....we'll get you out soon. Please let us know if there's any medical emergencies. 10-4"

Who the hell says 10-4 anymore!?

Luigilover: "We're going to have one ANY second now if the elevator doesn't open soon!"

Clueless Security Guard: "Oh, OK. 10-4"

20 minutes later...

Luigilover: "Did you want to sit down?"

Crying girl: "No NOOOO" *sob*

Oh God.

Then the elevator goes all herky jerky....

Patsy: "I see someone working in it through the gap. We're almost outta here"

Velma: "It's ok! We're almost out of here"

Ivaka: "I hope we're not in here for like an hour or something"

Oh God. Shut up!

*ding*

Ahhh...fresh air.

I asked Crying girl if she was ok....she cried some more but said "Thanks...I was just more embarrassed than anything else." *laugh*

Ugh. I'm taking the stairs from now on.

I wonder if this qualifies for stress leave?

Karma is great....

I should start off by saying I'm very fortunate.
I have an office window. It's great! I get to watch people walk by--enjoying their walk, enjoying the weather, enjoying picking their nose....I digress.

My office building, like I've mentioned several times, is a government office. Our office building also happens to be where people pay their parking tickets. Not the nicest feature of our building, however that's what we do!

My favourite part of the day has to be the strip of land across the street from my office building. It clearly states in big red letters "NO STANDING From 12-6pm" and "NO PARKING" at "ANY TIME". Yet, everyday, I see cars parked there.

Now, this illegal parking would get anyone incredibly annoyed; especially the la-de-da condo building that said strip fronts on. I however, love it.

You see, what most people don't know is that these stupid cars are the SAME people that run out of their cars with fluorescent pieces of paper off to our building to pay their parking tickets.

Where is this blog going you ask...? Wait for it...wait for it...

So I keep watching their cars; eagerly awaiting the meter maid who ALWAYS patrols up and down the street. Ah...and there they are. They whip out their trusty electronic devices, punch in a few codes, and off they go....

....ah...and there they come. The pissed off car owner who just stepped into my building to pay off the same type of ticket. 90% of the time, and argument ensues. Stamping of the feet occurs, words are cursed and faces go red. Fingers are pointed at the streetlamp with signs sadly dictating the By-law on them. This JUST happened as I finished typing this sentence....classic.

The worst part of all of this is that there's a parking lot that charges $3.00/30 minutes not 20 feet away from said strip.

Karma is great.......

****yes, I know I haven't posted in a while...suck it up. More to come ;)