I had a doctor’s appointment last week that ended up having to be rescheduled.
It wasn’t because I was too busy that day, though. In fact, I arrived at the building half an hour before my appointment. My doctor’s office was located on the 7th floor so I got into the elevator to head up to sign myself in early. Everything was going great until the elevator broke down between floors 3 and 4. I was the only one in the elevator and I panicked when it suddenly jerked to a stop, pressing all of the buttons to try to get something to work. Nothing worked except for the emergency phone installed next to the button display, through which I was alerted that help was on the way. I eventually calmed down but wasn’t able to stop the sweat that was beginning to drip down my body. The air conditioner in the elevator had stopped, and without the air conditioning the elevator quickly began to heat up. The lack of AC turned the enclosed space into a sweltering sauna. I was going to miss my appointment but that wasn’t a big concern at the time. The temperature outside that day was in the high 80s, and the building’s lobby had been cooled down nicely from the building’s HVAC system, but in the elevator without access to this cooling I couldn’t help but obsess over how hot it was, making me all the more aware of the lack of AC and heat. I was so relieved to finally get out of there that I wasn’t even upset about having to reschedule my appointment.