Going Down with Ruthie – Was it a fantasy, or just a bad dream?
Let me start this story off by saying that Ruthie is a very good friend of mine. I don’t really consider what happened as stupid, but I just can’t ever let her live it down. That’s understood between us. Even after treating me as she has, we still remain friends. In fact, she still sends me dirty jokes. Now, on to the story:
I was taking a Visual Basic course at college that consisted of a lecture on the second floor during the first half of the class, then a lab period on the first floor for the last half. We had a group project, and I was teamed with Ruth and Kimberly. When it was time to go downstairs to the lab to work on our project, Ruth and Kim told me that they’d meet me down there, because they wanted to stop at the vending machine first. I told them that would be fine, but asked if they’d push the elevator button for me first. They said it would be no problem (or so I thought), and we proceeded to the elevator.
Ruthie asked, “Do you need me to go down with you?”
I told her I’d be fine, and if she would just push the button for me, I can get out when it stops at the first floor. I’ve done it plenty of times before. Well, she pushed the button to call the elevator, held the door until I got in, and asked again, “Are you sure you’ll be okay?”
Once again, I assured her I’d be fine and not to worry about it. I was going to add, “Just make sure to push the button,” but thought, “I don’t need to tell her that.” With that, Ruthie let the door close, and there I was, sitting in a motionless elevator car. I said to myself, “Oh my God, I guess I did have to tell her that.”
Well, I spent the next five or ten minutes of my captivity planning how I would thoroughly abuse Ruthie once I regained my freedom. Finally, I felt the elevator begin its descent to the first floor. When the doors opened, I heard Ruthie and Kim saying things like, “Oh my God, he was in there the whole time?” and “Why didn’t it come down?”
Then Ruthie asked, “What happened?”
“Well Ruth, it works a lot better, if you push the button!”
“Oh my God! Didn’t I push the button?”
“Yeah Ruth, ya did. I just stopped it so I can have some alone time.”
Well, needless to say, she felt horrible about it, and apologized repeatedly. I was never angry or upset about it, but felt it was my duty, if not my God-given right, to never let her forget about it.