Overheard at the water cooler...

So, I noticed for the first time today that the building that I work in has a 13th floor.  Yeah, yeah, yeah - I know - some people might be tempted to say that every building over 12 stories tall has a 13th floor, but (as they say in the country) that's exactly where we part ways, friend.  If OTIS don't put a button on the panel for it, it don't exist..  I also strongly object to the practice of labeling the the 2nd floor button as the 1st floor.  I'm not sure if that's a strictly British thing, but I ran into that scheme more than once while there and can't recall seeing it anywhere else.  Back to the story at hand...  I've been here just a touch over a month and upon finding it today, was stunned that I hadn't ever noticed the 13th floor button.  I'm generally on the lookout for such things.  I've only been in a few other elevators where I noticed that a 13th floor was listed as such.  Sadly, I only have photos of this one and one other that I found in Sydney.  (Feel free to send me yours, if you happen to snag one.)  Up until today, I had always assumed that the OTIS corporation had a bad case of triskaidekaphobia.  Perhaps, I've missed a few here and there, but I usually check.  During the ride up, one of my co-passengers and I exchanged a few odd comments about it, but another guy across from me with the greasetastically delicious, McDonald's bag o' grub was not amused or really paying us any mind at all.  He was miles away.  I didn't really think much of it, until I overheard his discussion with a co-worker near the water cooler.  Well, close enough to the water cooler to be properly classified as water cooler chat since that's how I like to think of it...

Cube Dweller #1 - "So, I headed home for lunch today hoping to do some errands and have a quiet meal.  Instead, I find a stolen car parked in my back yard."

Cube Dweller #2 - "In your backyard?"

CD #1 - "Yeah, and it was running."

CD #2 - "What?"

CD #1 - "Yeah."

CD #2 - "How did you know it was stolen?"

CD #1 - "It was missing the seats, so I kinda figured... and it was running.  So I had to wait around for the cops to show up...  Good thing I went home for lunch today.  It could've caught my house on fire or something."

Comments

[doug]

Down here in Noisyland, everybody refers to what I think of as the "second" floor as the "first" floor. The "first" floor is in fact the "ground" floor.

For some reason, the bit in ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT where Buster pushes the button for "M" thinking it's the main floor and winds up in the morgue instead comes to mind.

[Shawn]

That is pretty damn funny. At least he didn't come home to find a GE Jet Engine from a 747 parked in his kitchen. That would be terrible in so many ways, especially if there wasn't a crash. Nevermind.