Last
summer I applied for approximately 14
jobs to fill the time I would otherwise spend bullshitting on
AIM and surfing pointless web sites. The
rejections flooded in from such retail giants as
Barnes & Noble and
Zara (well, retail giant in
Spain anyway), but somehow I managed to
score some office work for the Joint Apprentice and Training Committee of the Elevator Industry, affiliated with Local Union #3 in my home away from home,
New York City.
Although my only personal experience with elevators is of the riding up and down kind, my work consisted of processing applications for men and women interested in the industry of building, maintaining, and repairing elevators. Believe it or not, but there are valuable lessons to be learned from those involved in this particular industry. Although I admit to knowing very few things about this world, there is one tip I can offer for those of you who frequent these little moving boxes.
Little known public safety announcement:
If you are stuck in an elevator between floors, and someone gets the doors open for you and reaches their hand out to pull you up and out, or down and out, don´t do it. Modern elevators will rarely drop unsuspectingly to the ground at 100 mph, but they will resume function and move at a normal pace to the closest floor. Read: bad timing can cause decapitation or dismemberment for either you or the good samaritan that´s helping you (but probably you). Just something to keep in mind.