Ever wonder what happens when you press the emergency call button on an elevator? Well, I’m here to tell you the answer since my son pressed that very button on the elevator at my husband’s office building today!
I have every other Friday off during the summer because my workplace is awesome, and today is one of my Fridays off. I decided to take B to go have lunch with H. We had a nice lunch at Potbelly (we’re a very fancy family) and then headed back up to H’s office. B said “Button!” and then pressed the call button. I pressed the button again to deactivate it, but that didn’t work. Then H pressed the button a bunch of times to try to deactivate it, in case my button-pushing was defective or something, but H’s attempts didn’t work either. We heard some dialing and then a voice announced, “There is an emergency in Elevator 6. There is an emergency in Elevator 6.”
The elevator stopped at our floor, which also happens to be the floor where the building management office is located. H ran into the building management office and said, “There’s no emergency on Elevator 6! My son pressed the button by mistake!” The lady was just like, “Ok! Thanks!” She used a walkie-talkie to tell someone there wasn’t an emergency. Then she saw B and said, “He’s so cute!”
And that was pretty much it. She didn’t even ask for H’s name, so it can’t have been too big a deal.
Then on the way home, I was stopped at a red light when the SUV next to me decided to turn right on red, apparently without looking, and an ambulance that was going through the green light slammed into the SUV. The SUV was totally at fault.
I just sat there in shock. The two guys in the ambulance jumped out and ran over to the SUV, so I’m assuming the ambulance guys were ok. Another guy in a pickup truck jumped out and ran over to the SUV too. I sat there for a while, even after my light turned green, and then I just drove home. I probably should have stopped and at least given my name and number to people in case they needed a witness, but I figured if anyone was hurt that the ambulance guys would take care of it, and I didn’t want to get in the way. I also wasn’t sure where I should park my car to run and give my information out- the road I was on didn’t have a shoulder or anything. Those are lame excuses. Mainly, I just didn’t know what the heck to do. It won’t hurt my feelings if you tell me you think I should have stopped.
I wouldn’t have stopped. And until you mentioned the whole witness thing, it wouldn’t have every occurred to me to stop.
I’m interested to see what people say.
The shock of accidents (even when they don’t involve me) usually leaves me kind of stunned, so with that many other people around, I don’t blame you. I hope everyone was okay – why can’t people just STOP.. seriously. Waiting thirty seconds will NOT kill you.
I wouldn’t have stopped either. Sounds like the ambulance had it under control.
I probably wouldn’t have stopped either. The only real reason to do so is if it isn’t clear after the fact who’s fault it was (or if someone needed help) and in this case it was probably clear cut.
I would have stopped. Particularly since the ambulance had stopped and someone else stopped as well. Even more so if I had one of my kids with me.
Also, those emergency call buttons must get pushed ALL THE TIME given that they’re bright red and right at a toddler’s eye level.
Looking back, one reason I can justify not stopping is that I had B in the car with me, and I wouldn’t want to leave him while I stood around a car accident scene. But to be honest, I don’t think that occurred to me at the time.
I’ve stopped a few times and offered my info. The cops always look at me like I’m annoying or nuts. Or both.
I’m not sure what I would have done – but to be honest, it sounds like you were a bit in shock. You likely couldn’t have added anything to the mix – it’s pretty lucky to have an ambulance that close by if you’re going to be in an accident. If you feel like you need to be a witness (which I doubt since she’s likely to be found at fault without a witness), call the police station and leave your name. Just glad you’re okay.
I probably would have stopped, but I totally understand why you didn’t, and think it really is totally fine either way.
I seriously think whoever designed elevators did not have kids. Why are those buttons at kid level!?!? (yes, I know it if for wheel chair access…I’m must saying, kids love them).
I wouldn’t have stopped. Even if the guy claims to not be at fault, I’m sure the ambulance workers word will be plenty for everyone to go on.
We witnessed an accident last month (and almost got in one because of it) and we totally should have stopped, but by the time we figured out what had happened, avoided crashing, and stopped freaking out, we were already at least half a mile down the road. Then what? Reverse in the shoulder? Walk back? We just kept driving. I feel bad about it and wish I could have helped, but I don’t really know that we could have handled it any better.
I’m glad to know that something happens when the call button is pressed. I always kind of suspected that those buttons were just for show, and not really connected to anything.
My response prior to being in an accident recently would have been, things seemed under control, don’t need to stop. However, since I have been in an accident recently and learned that insurance companies say that if there are no independent witnesses, it’s just “word versus word,” and they refuse to settle the case either way. So, if the jackhole who hit you happens to lie and say his light was green, you are SOL unless you immediately ran and found the first independent witness you could to give their name and information. And by the way, don’t count on the cop to do that for you because that’s just a little too much work for them, despite the fact that you are downtown with a ton of people who saw what happened. Oh, and one more thing, if you find out the next day that your coworker happened to be a couple cars behind you and saw what happened, he isn’t considered an “independent witness” because he’s your coworker, so obviously he would lie for you. The moral of the story is that any time you see an accident, if you can’t stop at the time, at least follow up with the police department and speak to the reporting officer to put your witness account into the police report so some poor schmuck doesn’t get stuck in a year long battle of the insurance adjusters. Okay, sorry, rant finished…