Office Mishaps….

Two of my most embarrassing moments while working in an office were when I lived in Chicago, Illinois.  Those two times were also when I was working downtown for law firms.

The first embarrassing moment was not my fault.  Haha.  It was the fault of a couple of attorneys. They had dropped an important folder that was needed in court in a few moments.  The problem was that they dropped it behind a file cabinet.  A tall file cabinet. . . Taller than me which would be more than 5″3″.  It was actually quite a bit taller than me. They had a dilemma.  If they called for maintenance, they would be late for court as maintenance never was something you could count on to arrive immediately.

I am typing away, doing my job and two of the attorneys and some of the secretaries were approaching me.  They motioned me to come with them.  I was hesitant and was asking what they wanted.  I knew they had suspicious looks on their faces and that they were up to something! They went to the file room. They had the filing cabinet pulled out as much as they could and they said they would like to lower me down there to get a folder.  I, of course, refused!  They went on and said you are the smallest one here (I weighed about 102 then) and we cannot get it pulled out more than it is.  We will get you on top of the cabinet and then lower you down and then we will lift you out.  I refused!!! I told them it would not work and they would not be able to get me out.  

They were adamant and kept telling/asking/begging me to do this.  I kept refusing.  Finally I gave up and agreed.  The lowering me down turned into me getting on top of the cabinet, turning around and more or less dropping to the floor. The cabinet was not pulled out much at all and I could not even bend down to retrieve the folder.  I could not reach it if I were to bend sideways either.  I looked up at them and they wanted to hand me a broom or something to scoot it with. I swear, they were not using their heads.  What good would that do?  It was really a tight squeeze there! All I could do was extend my leg to the side of me and that was it!  There was no room for me to do anything much at all other than to stand straight in attention. I could only lift my leg to the side.  I had to use my foot and sort of slide the folder up the wall until one of them could bend over and down the wall to reach it.

You know what, I was right! Once I was down there, they could not get me back out.  It was physically impossible.  I could not do anything to help but just stand there.  There was no room to move at all.  They were on chairs leaning over the filing cabinet and there was no place for them to hold on to me to hoist me out of there.  I could lift my arms straight up, but there was the issue of exactly where they could touch to lift me as well.  This was very awkward.  They really did not have the strength to lift as they were laying across the top of the cabinet.  Looking back, it was funny to see their faces.  They had various expressions as time went on.  First their forlorn looks because they could not get their file.  Next, their desperation as they were begging me to do this.  Then, their looks of bewilderment once I was dropped down there and the realization that I could not accomplish what they wanted.  The last was their looks on their faces as they were leaning over the file cabinet looking down  at me and the predicament I was in and trying to stifle their laughter. They looked like two little boys who knew they were in trouble and did not want to laugh.

Guess what?  Maintenance was called.  Hmmm.  Good idea and maybe that should have been done to begin with!  Haha.   Well, they left for court, with their folder, and a few of the girls stayed in there and kept me company.  Maintenance finally came and had a good laugh first and then moved the file cabinet out enough for me to get out.  I should never have agreed!

The second most embarrassing moment was my fault!  Totally mine and totally more embarrassing!  I will post the second one tomorrow!