I was on call when an overtime call came in for 1st National Bank in Downtown San Diego. I checked in with the security guard and went looking for the elevator. The PI lights were out so it was a simple matter of picking a couple of locks to find the car. I picked the lock at the bottom floor and no elevator. I traveled to the top floor, picked that lock and still no elevator. I went to mid travel, picked that lock and still no car. But something else was missing … the Comp Ropes. I went back to the top floor for another look, picked the lock again and checked out the hoistway. The traveling cables were there OK, but wait a minute … this is the top landing. This time looked up and there it was, way up in the top of the hoistway. It was time to go to the machine room. I looked down the cable block out in the machine room floor and two inches below the slab was the two to one sheave. By now it was midnight and there was nothing that could be done anyway. I gave the security guard the bad tidings and headed for home.

Because his job was hanging by a thread to begin with, The Boss was always acutely aware of his profit and loss statement. Overtime calls on full maintenance jobs stretched that thread a little tighter. So every morning when he hit the office he checked the log for overtime callbacks. If there had been a call you could bet on getting a page at 7:30 am on the dot. The twenty question routine could get a little irritating before the start of the work day. So with his hand on his wallet the questions would begin. “What happened at First National last night?”
“DC Overload was tripped.”
“What caused that?”
“The overhead.”
“Gasp” then “What overhead?”
“The overhead at the top of the hoistway.”
“Did you get the car running again?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
“It was on the safeties.”
“What stopped you from running the car up to release them?”
“The machine beams.”
Phone hits carpet.
Fumbling noise.
“Where are you?”
“First National.”
Dial Tone.