Helloooooo… Anybody!!!
Helloooooo… Anybody!!!

My son needed to borrow my truck on Friday evening. But before he left, I got my garage door opener out of it so I could maybe take a few things to the new house and I would not have to go through the front door. I put the opener in my pants pocket and off he went. I thought it would be good for me to get as much stuff ready to move as possible so I got into serious work mode. I was putting stuff into boxes. I was washing clothes. I was even looking at stuff and trashing what I hadn’t used in the last 3 years by the armload. And at one point, I took two armloads of “stuff” to the trash chute room and dumped it. Somehow, some way, something that was in my arm grabbed the garage door opener that was in my pocket with the clip hanging out and there went my garage door opener…Down the trash chute. I actually saw it and yelled: Nooo! But it was too late. Well, It was Friday night at 6pm. Not a Lot of “trash activity. So, I decided that I would go down stairs and find the remote. So off I went in search of the trash room.

My apartments are only 40% occupied due to some recent flooding. Most folks were asked to leave. So again, I wasn’t real worried about lots of other trash. So, I made my way down to level, B2. The bottom level of the building. I found the door labeled “Trash Room.” and that’s what it smelled like. Trash!!! Oh it was stinky. There was a row of dumpsters to my left and to my right was the dumpster that was receiving the trash from the trash chute. I opened the door a little and it was overflowing. Trash started to spill out. So, I decided that I would never find my remote. Unless I wanted to sift through lots and lots of trash. Plus, it was way too stinky in that room for me. So, I just called it a loss and decided to head back to my apartment. I grabbed the door handle and it didn’t open. It was locked. That’s when I noticed the key fob device next to the door handle. What the HELL!!! You need a key fob to get OUT of the trash room??? That makes ZERO sense! Anyone can get IN the trash room but you need a key fob to get OUT? I grabbed the handle and pulled as hard as I could. Nothing…This could NOT be happening…I was locked in the stinky trash room…That’s when I started banging on the doors. Yes, there were 2 “roll up” doors to get the dumpsters in. But they were all locked from the outside. Who the hell secures a trash room from the INSIDE? I banged on the doors again but then I remembered…I was on the bottom floor of a building that was more than 50% empty. It was Friday night at 7p… Most folks were out at happy hour or dinner. I just knew I was going to die in the trash room. I had no phone. It was in my apartment. I was laughing at how stupid this was… then at some point, my laughs turned into anger…then a tear or two came down as well. I was going to spend the weekend in the trash room. No one comes to the trash room on the bottom floor of a half empty building on the weekend. People MIGHT look for me in my apartment when I don’t show up for my flight to Savannah on Saturday. But even if they do, who’s gonna look for me in the trash room?

I kept banging and yelling: Helloooooo…Anybody!!!!! Helloooo!!! I didn’t want to go full on desperation scream but I did want to yell loud enough for someone to hear me…FORTY minutes later, a guy yells back. It was the voice of an angel. Lance had parked his car on B2 a week earlier and was just coming to check on it and heard me yelling. He opened the door and I jumped into his arms. He had no idea why I was so happy to see him. I explained what happened but I was probably too stinky for him so he just smiled and awkwardly walked away. But I did tell him that he could drink FREE at my bar for LIFE!