Trapped In New York

Little did I know that I was walking into a Man Trap last Thursday when I left the office late.

Take a gander at the accompanying drawing. Let me explain:

B is a doorway from the elevator lobby directly into the floor. Do Not Use This Door. The security guy (in the room formed by doors A, C, and D) Will Yell At You. If he can catch you (he's got a serious limp) he will tackle you. I think.

A is the preferred doorway into the security area, leading to doors C and D.

C and D are doors into the floor. These doors are always locked - you need an ID badge to get through. Typical stuff in corporate America.

The red pads are card readers. The green pads are push buttons that open the doors "on demand."

During normal operations, door A is propped open. I had never seen door A in any other position than open when I left that night at around 8 PM. I pressed the button by door C and walked into the lobby. The door swung shut behind me as I strode purposefully toward door A.

I pulled on door A. Nothing. I pushed on door A. Nothing. I heard the relay in door C click shut and it dawned on me -

[...Flashback...]

Security guard: "Okay Mr. Williams, here's your badge. Now it's restricted to 8 AM to 5:30 PM, if you are going to need evening and weekend access just have the people you're working for send me an email and I can change it"

It was definitely after 5:30, and sure enough, my card would not open door C or D. Door A was locked. I banged door C and door D for a moment but the floor was deserted. Oh man. I knew there was a tin of mints in my bag, maybe that would hold me until the morning guard came in...

But wait! What's this brown box in the corner? A phone? With an emergency number conveniently placed on a sticker by the dial pad?

I called security and sheepishly explained my problem. The nice lady in the security office buzzed door C open and I circled around to door B and let myself out.

Freedom!