Tuesday, September 04, 2007 - Choose Your Own Adventure Elevators - Episode 5

Tuesday, September 04, 2007
Choose Your Own Adventure Elevators - Episode 5
So, one of the interesting tid bits about our hotel in Valencia were the elevators. There were three of them to cover the 18 floor hotel (though there was no button for the 18th floor - there was a sign in the elevator clearly stating that the ballroom and conference rooms could be found there.)The elevator on the left was marked "service", but wasn't any different than the other two and nobody except the actual staff seemed to care that it could possibly be different. Each elevator had it's own "charm". One had buttons that were "messed up" to say the least. The number 7 was recessed in to the control panel among other aesthetic issues. Another had a very nice, modern looking control panel - silver with l.e.d lights in the center of each button. All very nice and intact - with no extreme signs of wear and tear. However, despite this elevator's "upscale look," it had a true mind of its own. I cannot speak for floors below the 14th, as that's where I stayed and virtually everyone I ever had cause to visit was on 14 or above, so perhaps the issue I am about to describe only plagued the upper floors. On occasion, and one could never predict when the occasion might arise, the elevator would not go to the floor you asked it to go to. Not unlike every other elevator on the planet - you would step in, push the button marked for the floor you'd like to stop on and the doors would close. What happend next could be anything from highly entertaining, to highly aggravating, to infuriating (depending on how much of a hurry you might be in at that given moment in time). By chance, the elevator might stop on every other floor - yet nobody had pushed any of those buttons, nor was anyone EVER waiting to get on the elevator at the unsolicited stops. Even better, the elevator might not even stop on the floor you asked it to stop on. I can't tell you how many times I pushed 14, only to end up on 15 - then opting to disembark and walk down the stairs because I wanted the ride to END. I recall one particular incident where an athlete and I were heading up to my room so that I could dispense some medication, or hand out a bandaid, or something of that matter. We got on in the lobby, hit 14, the doors closed, and the elevator actually went all the way to 14 without stopping (not to mention it actually stopped on 14). We looked at one another in amazement and I recall saying, "holy crap! That never happens!" To the best of my knowledge, that was the sole time there wasn't an "adventure" in the elevator. You just never knew, from moment to moment, what kind of ride you were in for. It could involve the stairs, or perhaps a visit to the 10th floor which was closed for renovation. More often than not it involved a visit to 5 different floors when, in fact, you only wanted to visit 1.