colemartinez•1mo agoProlific Poster

Rider in building 7 taught me something about leveling

I was fixing a door sensor in a midtown office tower last Tuesday when this older guy in a suit came up and asked if I knew why the car always stopped a half inch low on floor 12. He had been riding that elevator for 10 years and kept a little notebook of every time it did it. Turns out he was an electrical engineer and his notes helped me find a worn controller relay I would have missed. Has anyone else had a regular tenant give you useful data like that?

3 comments

3 Comments

the_richard1mo ago

Yeah but who carries a notebook around for 10 years just to complain about a half inch gap? That guy is a legend in his own mind. Still, his weird obsession probably saved you hours of troubleshooting. It's funny how the quiet weirdos with their little systems end up being the ones who actually solve problems.

paige_martin1mo ago

It's always the person with the slightly obsessive attention to detail who ends up saving everyone else. My friend kept a detailed log of bus arrival times for a year just to prove a route was consistently off schedule, and the city actually changed it. People call it weird until it actually makes their life easier.

patriciamoore1mo ago

Honestly, calling someone a "legend" for keeping a notebook for a decade feels a bit much. I get being meticulous, but ten years of your life over a gap that's half an inch? That's the kind of energy that could've just been a quick email to building maintenance. It solved the problem, sure, but let's not pretend it wasn't a little unhinged too.