almost got trapped last night at work
Find a Conversation
| Sat, 12-16-2006 - 5:26pm |
I stayed late at work last night and was one of the last people to leave the building. Actually, I think I was the last person to leave my section of the building. Like a fool, I decided to take a shortcut out to the parking lot. I work in a huge rambling building that houses many different departments, but you can't really cut through the building easily because of locked doors and generally you only have a key to your section of the building. I always park my car in the farthest section of the parking lot from my office to give myself a little bit of extra exercise, and on days when I work late sometimes at 5:00 I'll go out and move my car so it's right outside my office so I won't have to walk across the dark parking lot by myself. I forgot to do that yesterday, so when it was 7:00 it was completely dark except for the exterior lights. That's why I decided to use a shortcut.
If you walk across my section of the building and down a hallway, there's a doorway to the parking lot which saves coming out at the back of the building and having to walk all the way around to the front of the building to reach the parking lot. You go through a door and you're in a vestibule and then another door that goes outside. Well, the door leading back into the hallway is always kept locked on the outside. I went through that door, into the glass walled vestibule, and tried to open the exterior door. It was locked.
I didn't panic right away. That door has a knob lock, so I turned it. Door still wouldn't open. I kept turning it and trying to get the door open, and the door still wouldn't budge. Then I started worrying because I knew I couldn't get back into the building so I could go out the normal exit. I started looking around hoping on one of the signs I would see the number for campus police so I could call and have them come let me out. No luck.
Even though I knew no one was inside the building, I pressed the intercom. I saw a couple of cars drive past on their way out, and I banged on the glass but they couldn't hear or see me. I looked at the alarm to see if there was some kind of help button like you see on elevators (I once got stuck on an elevator at work and had to use the help button to get someone to rescue me). No luck.


Whew! Glad the door finally opened. At least with your cell phone, you could have called someone. I'm sure 911 could have contacted campus security too.
Hugs,
Dee
Sheri Ann