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AMAZING TRUE STORIES As you may know, cable or traction elevators have what is called a governor. It prevents the elevator from overspeeding. In elevator industry lingo, when an elevator overspeeds, the governor trips, quickly bringing the elevator to a safe stop. Years ago, I was working for a company that hired a new receptionist who didn't quite reach the top floor. One day, one of our technicians called in to report a problem with an elevator in a downtown government building we maintained. He said, reporting the equipment problem, "The governor tripped on the elevator." Her response, in a completely serious tone: "Well, tell him to pick up his feet." A supervisor I once worked with (he's now a respected consultant) would ride on elevator cartops from time to time, as do I. He would sometimes ride on cartops while passengers took a ride the more conventional way. One day, he called down to passengers in a deep Basil Rathbone voice: "Hellooo down there. how are you?" It apparently spooked them a bit. Corporate seals are a common method of legitimizing a business. They may be required in the submission of bid documents and other papers. Putting together bids can often be a last-minute affair, with many people in an organization scurrying about to get all the required seals, signatures, and bonds. I know of one company where the person preparing the bid papers for a large project found himself without access to a corporate seal. It apparently had been locked in a safe over the weekend. The person with access to the safe was out of town. In a fit of desperation and great ingenuity, he discovered a souvenir medallion for the Denver Mint lying around the office. He found out that with just the right amount of pressure applied to a paper, this bogus seal almost looked like the real seal of the company. Well, the bid papers were mailed out. The price was right, but he received a call from the organization. The lady on the other end said three people had tried to read the seal, but the impression was too faint to read. "Could you please reseal the papers?" she inquired. The person, now a respected consultant (a different respected consultant) quickly obliged. In a class A office building, a delivery man, angry that the elevator door closed before he could get off, rammed his cart into the elevator car door. If the elevator had been stopped when he did it, the cost would have been about $1,000.00. But the car was moving rather briskly in the down direction. When he body slammed the door, it broke off the door gibs (see definitions). The bottom of the door now protruded beyond the car sill creating a sort of giant wedge. It didn't take long for it to find something to have a close relationship with--in this case a hoistway sill. The door panel had a opposite and equal reaction on the car track which is connected to the top of the car and lots of other expensive stuff. There are many cases where we don't catch the culprit. This time we had a caged bird and he did sing. "I guess you won't let me in this building anymore,"he sheepishly said. A building maintenance person who found him said, "I think you also better look for another job." Salespeople receive the wackiest calls. The following were received by an elevator salesman: "I'm in the market for an elevator. Do you stock any used elevators. What sizes do you have in stock?" (this person spends too much time at yard sales) "I would
like to buy a new elevator. Do you have any in
blue?" A customer - let's just call her Monica - in a rather official voice said, "I need you to check out two of our corporate locations for Y2K compliance. Headquarters needs to know if the elevator phones are compliant." I said, "they want to know what?" Her voice became subdued, as if trying to avoid detection by mind numbed Y2K zealots. "Hey, what is this thing all about- isn't this kind of dumb?" We agreed to keep the secret to ourselves.
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