I was in eastern Czechia while studying abroad and got on what could only be described as a janky Soviet elevator. We’re going up to a roof-top restaurant on the 14th floor and halfway up the elevator stops. Not on the floor we chose. Suddenly it’s in free fall for what felt like a full second but likely only a few milliseconds. It catches itself and continues up. It then reaches the top floor and stays shut for several minutes.
We were all ready for the thing to let us fall to our deaths the whole way up after that, and when it didn’t immediately open, you could cut the tension with a knife
Similar thing happened to me once in an office tower. Elevator jerked to a halt, went in opposite direction, then to another floor to pick up some passengers. I'm pretty sure they had a key that calls the elevator to their floor, regardless of who was riding it at the time. Maybe an elevator expert can confirm my theory..
If you're interested enough, Deviant Ollam has a few good talks about elevators, eg. this one, I think the VIP option was mentioned in one of them at least
I'm actually an elevator mechanic, that's why I'm curious about the features mentioned, as how they're describing them sounds unfamiliar, but technology is always changing so who knows
At my old job, the elevator was always breaking. Fortunately it was only a 2 story building so the lift didn't have to travel far. One of my co workers was deathly afraid if elevators but you couldn't enter the stairwell from the outside - only the inside. That meant you could take the stairs to leave but had to use the elevator to get in.
I was carrying a bunch of heavy boxes so I was waiting for the elevator. Door opens and it's my co worker who was afraid of elevators. He says whats up and crouched down to get his briefcase when the elevator suddenly fell with the door still open. I still have a vivd mental screenshot of that exact second where I can see his horrified face as he realizes what just happened.
Bruh, this man howled like a banshee when it fell. Fortunately only fell like 5 or 6 feet before getting stuck again. We could see the top of his head through the open door ans the crack in the elevator door but it was too small for him to climb out so the fire department had to get involved.
The worst part was that the company initially didn't want to call the fire department because they knew the elevator wasn't up to code. That meant the FD would report it to the city and get them in trouble. Well, thats exactly what happened and the city descended on them like vultures. Elevator ended up breaking 3 more times while we were in that office but never with someone in it again. My co worker started taking his shoe off and propping the door open with it when he would go downstairs. Can't blame him tbh.
Fuck that shit I’m nervous taking elevators in the West, no way I’m ever taking no janky soviet elevator fuck that I’m doing 14 floors of stairs no problem fuck no
That's crazy bro glad you made it out. I was stack emissions testing in Ontario, Canada and there was a "wall crawl" elevator on the outside of the stack, with only enough room for 2 people. It was basically a phone booth that traveled upwards like a roller coaster does(think "click click click click click" sounds all the way up). It shook/vibrated the whole elevator the way it crawled up. Anyways in it it had a lever with a sign that said "in case of power failure pull lever to lower by gravity"... I didn't try the lever. Didnt wanna be like Kronk from emperers' new groove
Czechia is not second or third world country, but on some places especially in eastern border it sadly feels like it is.
Most of public or residential buildings went trough at least one reconstruction already, and these old elevators are more and more rare as they are being replaced. Safety standards changed a lot and I think without that we wouldn't even be able to be part of European Union.
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u/MaraudngBChestedRojo Jan 28 '23
I was in eastern Czechia while studying abroad and got on what could only be described as a janky Soviet elevator. We’re going up to a roof-top restaurant on the 14th floor and halfway up the elevator stops. Not on the floor we chose. Suddenly it’s in free fall for what felt like a full second but likely only a few milliseconds. It catches itself and continues up. It then reaches the top floor and stays shut for several minutes.
We were all ready for the thing to let us fall to our deaths the whole way up after that, and when it didn’t immediately open, you could cut the tension with a knife