Gawker
In 1999, BusinessWeek production manager Nicholas White went outside to smoke a cigarette and, upon returning, got stuck in an elevator. For 41 hours. The story of his ordeal is woven through Nick Paumgarten's new New Yorker feature about elevators, and is, predictably, the most interesting part. It's amazing how much 41 hours in a small metal box altered White's life forever, for the worse. And—oh yes—there is (sped-up) security camera footage of him the entire time. It's mesmerizing, because you can imagine him slowly going insane, which is exactly what's happening. Below, the video, and the article's summary of White's life since he was rescued. Let this be a cautionary tale to all of you who may find yourself similarly ensared in this most primal of New York office drone nightmares!
White never went back to work at the magazine. Caught up in media attention (which he shunned but thrilled to), prodded by friends, and perhaps provoked by overly solicitous overtures from McGraw-Hill, White fell under the sway of renown and grievance, and then that of the legal establishment. He got a lawyer, and came to believe that returning to work might signal a degree of mental fitness detrimental to litigation. Instead, he spent eight weeks in Anguilla. Eventually, Business Week had to let him go. The lawsuit he filed, for twenty-five million dollars, against the building's management and the elevator-maintenance company, took four years. They settled for an amount that White is not allowed to disclose, but he will not contest that it was a low number, hardly six figures. He never learned why the elevator stopped; there was talk of a power dip, but nothing definite. Meanwhile, White no longer had his job, which he'd held for fifteen years, and lost all contact with his former colleagues. He lost his apartment, spent all his money, and searched, mostly in vain, for paying work. He is currently unemployed.
Comments
Yet another ploy by Bloomberg to get NYers to quit smoking.
That... is kind of a amazing.
Is this the elevator version of Michael Douglas's Falling Down?
He deserves to be unemployed. To be sure, getting stuck in an elevator for 41 fucking hours is a terrible thing. But he tried to go the slimy litigious route, and lost. Good.
"See? The Muzak isn't THAT bad! It isn't... that... bad... TURN IT OFF!!! TURN IT OFF!!! NO... MORE... MIDI... RICK... ASTLEY!!!!!!!!"
finally something that perfectly reifies the intense, life defying claustrophobia of working in book publishing. how appropriate that it actually happened at a publishers!
"Lift log, hour 38. I now have conclusive proof that the 'door open' button does not actually function. I suspect, actually, that it never really has."
That is a fucking bummer. At the very least, I hope he brought his whole pack of cigarettes outside with him, instead of just the one.
This reminds me too much of my normal existence for comfort.
@TheHonJudgeSmails: he worked for business week - what other route would you expect him to take?
@TheHonJudgeSmails: Well, a bit harsh, I'd say. My experience--and I know there are exceptions galore, so those needn't be pointed out--is that many people file a lawsuit because they have no fucking clue what else to do about what's happened to them.
And I'll admit, 41 hours is a long time, but it's not close to seven figures long.
I couldn't tell from the footage...but he must have peed at least once in there, right?
@TheHonJudgeSmails: Agreed, just give him something for his suffering and any medical and move on. And for heavens's sake destroy those tapes. Creepy..
@In Other News...: You have entered the Twilight Zone. doo do doo do..
I didn't see him take a piss. It's a fake, like the moon landing.
The best part is, at the end, they put a little "elevator out of service" sign up. A cute, final indignity.
@soybomb: Fair enough.
@KarenUhOh: @BalknChain: They gave him > $100,000... more than ample.
Really too disturbing for snark.
I haven't seen the vid yet but I'll snark anyway: 9 months in the womb and he freaks out over 41 hours? W.U.S.S.
I visibly cringed when he finally opened the elevator door...to a wall. Also, was he playing cards? Who carries a deck of cards with them when going out for a cigarette!?
I was locked in my bedroom one time for like 14 hours. I had to pee into a Diet Coke can. I was never so happy as when my roommate came home. I had yelled into the alley the night before and everything. Freaks me out a little bit to think about. Awww.
@dogisdead: I think he did what my husband does when faced with 10 minutes of nothing to do: removes all items from his wallet, including drivers license, green card, credit cards, etc. to validate his existence.
@TheHonJudgeSmails:
I am confident that you would feel different had you been trapped for two days in an elevator. The guy didn't even have an iphone. He had nothing but his own thoughts for two goddamn days. I don't know many folks who could take it.
I was stuck in an elevator for 41 minutes and nearly had a god damn stroke.
@karion:
Two days is a longgggggg time. Ten minutes in a Duane Reade line can drive you mad. Guy should have received a lot more dough.
@karion:
Goddamn, karion, definitely. I'd go insane.
He's so lucky he didn't rub one out.
People spend decades in prison being tortured, and we're supposed to empathize with this guy who got stuck in an elevator and then stopped going to work and relocated to a tropical island so as not to prejudice his lawsuit?!
Also, although I can't see his face, I imagine him to look and sound just like 'Michael Bolton' from Office Space.
This is my worst nightmare.
please 41 hours, he still had some saliva and his imagination. make it work
@lawyergay:
i'm sure he opened the door to pee... least that's what i would have done.
traumatic, yes. but when you put your life on hold to try and prove that you've been emotionally scarred ... stupid.
the case should have been on the negligence of rescue, and the guy should have just kept going with his life.
what the hell, be famous for showing that you can be stuck in an elevator for 2 days and overcome it! now that's a MAN....
I'm starting to feel bad for all the times I built tiny doorless rooms around my Sims and laughed as they tore at their hair, soiled themselves and ultimately succumbed to death.
@fileunder: I'd also starve to death.
I was stuck in an elevator once for two hours. I was at work around the same time, on a friday and was not resuced until after 1 am... and I was mostly worried about where I would pee if they didn't come save me. I was witha friend at least. I can not imagine being alone, in an elevator for that long. I mean, people close to him must have thought the worst! Missing for the whole weekend!? Someone must have though he died!
Imagine what five years in Guantanamo would be.
@sampan: Yeah, especially if you're a terrorist.
I knew we'd get Guantanomo, now we just need abu ghraib
and gulag and we'll pretty much be done.
The biopic: Nick In A Box.
Well, thank goodness he wasn't stuck in there with a pregnant woman.
Dude should have gone all penitentiary and pumped up, come out like a crip on steroids. That would should those wusses over at Bidness World.
@Mediahohoho: That would "show." Damn decaf.
@sampan: Or some poor fucking taxi driver who got ratted out by his jealous neighbor. Hah!
@In Other News...:
its the door close button that does nothing.
but why did the guy sue his employer? sue the elevator company, the security company, sue every guy named OTIS, but don't sue your boss. go back to work, prove you are loyal, hopefully get a big sympathy raise and live on. sounds like a good job opportunity to me.
Why did the lights stay on in that elevator and not the others? (Not an apartment dweller)
It's too bad he didn't have more cigs. Nothing gets the attention of authority like lighting up a cigarette anymore.
@veeelchop: He tried both... assistance is futile.
@PrincessKashmir: hahahahahah I've done the SAME thing. Maybe this is God's version of that when he gets bored.
sort of reminds me of the Wind-Up Bird Chronicles, and that guy who was stuck in a well. I could see how something like that would change you forever.
@karion: you mean he couldn't even update his twitter page? horreurs!
@fuzzymuffins:
He did indeed take a piss through the door.
And he was also - understandably - completely freaked about going on an elevator again. Visible on a camera for 40 hours, and nobody in Rock Ctr security bothered to look at a monitor.
40 hours. Stuck in that elevator.
If you really think he's overreacting to his predicament, I suggest watching the video in realtime. Even in the comfort of your own home, with bathroom, sleep, and meal breaks, you'd be half nuts by the time you were done.
That said, he seems to have made some pretty poor choices in the aftermath.
I can't wait to see someone make this into an episode of Boston Legal.
All White has to do is write it up so that Shatner gets trapped in the elevator with James Spader for 41 hours and he can collect the royalty checks for years to come.
Problem solved. If not, hey there's always Law and Order.
@KarenUhOh: which is one figure less that he was seeking ($25,000,000). He actually would have been much better off trying to sue to make them move his office to the ground floor (even if they had to get a facility specifically for him), and a decent monitary compensation ($100,000-175,000).
Wasn't there a story a few years ago about a Chinese delivery guy who got stuck in an elevator in the Bronx for days, and had to be wheeled away in an ambulance when he was finally found? The story gave me the shivers back then.
And it took over 30 hours for his shirt-tail to come out. Truth is indeed stranger...
@veeelchop: White didn't sue his employer. McGraw-Hill doesn't own or manage the building—Rockefeller Group Development Corporation, a subsidiary of Mitsubishi, does.
@TheHonJudgeSmails: Whether or not White suffered, isn't there a public safety issue here? The management company hired eight separate security guards who failed to acknowledge their CCTV screens; they, and the maintenece crews, should have noticed the elevator was busted and done something about it. Further, according to the NYC Department of Buildings' site, McGraw-Hill's elevators were rated "unsatisfactory" four times in the 90s.
Dunno. If you consider the severance package a Business Week production manager might have gotten in 1999, plus the cost of a bunch of therapy ($150/wk-->$7k/yr for a couple years), plus, yes, some punitive damages, $100,000 doesn't sound entirely crazy.
@Bell County: Commie Nominee!
So, is the lesson not to smoke or not to take elevators?
What I found odd is that they check every other elevator for a fix, but his.
Hopefully he got paid by the New Yorker and/or Nick Paumgarten for this video.
I agree with EvidenceOfAbsence above as to why the security guards failed to acknowledge their screens. 41 hours is a long time with no food or no bathroom. I think he should've gotten more than $100k. Someone who sued McDonalds for burning herself with coffee won $2.86 million. This elevator situation is worse than the coffee incident.
@Cheap Shot: Exactly what I was thinking -- man, would my surveillance tape have been embarrassing.
This is why city-dwellers should carry a WhizBiz.
Is this a lost Andy Warhol film?
@britneyspearstears: Thanks!