Today, I finally sought help for my crippling fear of elevators. When I arrived at my new therapist's office, I found the door to the stairs locked. To get to my appointment on the third floor of the building, I have to take the elevator. FML
Collection
Halloween
A failed costume, stolen candy and a very real scare: Halloween, the one night when fear is allowed.
Today, I worked up my courage and took an elevator for the first time in my life. Unfortunately, it was also my first time getting trapped for several hours in an elevator. FML
Today, my building's elevators were temporarily out of service. I climbed up 17 flights of stairs only to realize I left my keys downstairs. After the painful climb back up, the elevator lights came on. FML
Today, at my first day of work at a new job, I got stuck in the elevator going to the parking garage. I have claustrophobia about both elevators and parking garages. They said this never happens. FML
Today, the elevator in my apartment building broke down. I live on the 30th floor and am still climbing the stairs. FML
Today, despite being claustrophobic and avoiding lifts at all costs, I had to use the lift at work to carry boxes of paper to the 3rd floor. It broke down. FML
Today, I walked up sixteen flights of stairs to my room to avoid the lift lines. When I was almost at the top, the fire alarm sounded. FML
Today, I got stuck in an elevator. The help-line told me, "Don't touch the door. We'll be there soon". Two hours later, I had a headache, my legs were stiff, and my date must've thought I stood her up. The tech finally arrived, pries the door open, then rudely asked, "Why didn't you do that yourself?" FML
Today, I saw a woman struggling to hold the elevator. Trying to be helpful, I jumped forward and pressed the “close doors” button, thinking it was “open doors.” The doors shut right in her face. I had to awkwardly ride up ten floors in silence with three witnesses. FML
Today, I got stuck in an elevator for 45 minutes. I am an elevator mechanic. FML
Today, I was squeezed through an overly-crowded hallway down to my psychologist's. There, I sat in an overly-crowded waiting room to see him, next to an obese woman and an insane man. I finally entered the smaller-than-a-closet room. My reason for seeing a psychologist? Claustrophobia. FML
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Top comments
exileonmainst 16
So you’re saying that your fear has been elevated to new heights?
almost_there44 26
Well that's one way to overcome your fear.
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Comments (18)
Milla Saaristenperä 2
Is there something in particular which makes you afraid of elevators? I work for an elevator company and can explain all the safety features for you, if that would help overcome your fear! It is virtually impossible for an elevator car to fall as there are mechanical breaks that activate if the car starts moving up or down too fast. Since they are mechanical, they work also during power breaks. And even if they fail (which never happens) there are shock absorbers in the bottom of the shaft.
SneezyBear 27
Hello elevator expert! I totally believe you about elevators being usually very safe. The few scary cases I've heard of do not involve the elevator plummeting with people inside, rather that as someone entered or exited the elevator malfunctioned and started moving, resulting in serious injury or sometimes death. I saw a (blurred) video of it that was from China, and maybe that was due to lax building codes, but there was also a case of it in America about 10 years ago where a malfunctioning elevator was poorly labelled and wasn't cordoned off properly, and somebody tried to use it and was trapped when the elevator moved as she was half in the doorway. Do you have any idea what causes this malfunction? I assume it's extremely rare in places that have proper building codes.
Milla Saaristenperä 2
A functioning elevator has a light beam or light curtain (= many beams) in between the doors to detect if someone or something is in between the closing doors. These prevent the door from closing on you when you are getting in or out. There is also a locking mechanism in the doors which actually trigger a switch which enables the elevator to be powered. If the doors are open, the switch is open, which breaks the safety chain which then prevents the elevator from moving because it physically prevents the current from moving through the circuit. When the doors are closed and locked, only then the elevator will be able to move. The doors of the car are also coupled with the doors on the floor landing, and only the elevator car doors have a motor. This means that the doors on the landing cannot open by accident, when the car is not there - the landing doors only open when the car is there and attached and locked to the landing doors, as the opening of the car doors opens also the landing doors. So why these things sometimes still fail? A bit hard to say. Some older elevators don't have all these safety features in place. Also, I am sure with enough creativity a maintenance technician who does not know what they are doing or wish to cut corners can disable some of the safety features. Sometimes, to save cost, building owners opt to buy maintenance from private small "man and a van" type companies rather than from the company who manufactured the elevator. Not saying of course that all small companies would be bad or that big ones wouldn't make mistakes either. Did I answer your question at all?
Andrew Hollis 3
Ever think it was locked in purpose just for you as a form of therapy sorta face you fears deal
craft327 2
It's a type of behavioral therapy called exposure therapy.
Regulate 21
I see what they did there.
DarkAngelsBlade 25
That isn't therapy, that's just ******* cruel, find a new therapist.