Wednesday, December 03, 2008

elevators and an update

The Chronicle reported about the crime scene I walked through earlier this week. It turns out that the elevator did it. A man who sounds fascinating, Dr. Dan Kliman, a dynamic vegetarian doctor who was an anti-car and pro-Israel activist, stepped into a malfunctioning elevator and fell to his death.

Elevators, I tell you. I'm resisting with all my might becoming phobic of them ever since I read in the New Yorker about poor Nicholas White, who went out for a cigarette and got stuck in an elevator for FORTY-ONE HOURS. Forty one hours. This, without exaggerating, appears to have ruined his life. I cannot imagine that ordeal (although I can compare it to the birth of Iris, which took about that same length of time and was pretty frigging awful, but yet didn't completely come out of the blue).

Ever eager to support my mental health, the Sober Husband hunted up the video of Nicholas White's ordeal after we read the New Yorker article (security cameras were on the WHOLE FORTY ONE HOURS that poor bastard was trapped in that little box, but no one bothered to glance at them) and nagged me to watch it.
Poor Nicholas White.

Now every time I get into an elevator, I think of Nicholas White and worry. But in memory of Dr. Dan Kliman, I will always look down first and make sure that the door didn't open on emptiness.


hughman said...

yeah. 41 hours would be a lot to me. so would 4 hours. i don't do well with closed spaces or big crowds. i can empathize with your pathology.

Anonymous said...

That article is turning me into a stair-person.
I'm almost scared to watch the video.

kaila said...

Wow, I remember seeing that video back when it happened. Too bad there wasn't audio as well so you could hear him talking to himself. I know what I would be saying out loud.

Dread Pirate Davi said...

Jeezus, did no one report him missing?? Did it not occur to his co-workers to wonder where he'd run off to in the middle of a work day?? What is this world coming to?! I hope some security guards were fired!!

Anonymous said...


the Drunken Housewife said...

He was working late on a Friday night with another coworker, who assumed he'd run out and was leaving her to finish their project. When he was finally set free, he discovered a very nasty note left at his desk by his colleague.