#419 - Riser
Back in college I had a job cleaning a bank at night. When I got there the first thing I had to do was take the elevator down to the basement to get my supplies. The elevator was still an old style manual elevator that required a person to be inside to operate the levers. It was interesting how the elevator operator was always very friendly to me. He knew my name and wished me well as I arrived to work each day. This was in stark contrast to the bank employees. Occasionally there would be someone in one of the offices working late. Without fail every single one of them pretended that I didn’t exist. Nobody ever so much as made eye contact with me. They would always be in some sort of trance, staring at the paperwork on their desk in silence.
January 11th, 2008 at 12:05 am
Biff’s gone green!
January 11th, 2008 at 12:27 am
That’s Biff alright. Always thinking about the environment. I’m sure the cheese tiles and grape-flavoured shingles were very eco-friendly as well.
The Duck Has Spoken.
January 11th, 2008 at 1:58 am
freaky.
i want one.
January 11th, 2008 at 2:00 am
I dunno. I know people who’ve worked in a bank like that, and it might not have been so much they were ignoring you, as they were just ultra-focused on their work wanting to get it done so they could go home. My friend mentioned twice he’d had somebody talking to him for at least 10 seconds before he realized somebody else was even there. Completely unintentional, just a matter of getting too engrossed in what you want to finish.
January 11th, 2008 at 2:35 am
Lol,biff has gone green =p
January 11th, 2008 at 6:05 am
That’s awesome.
Now what about all his other cool inventions that have to run on who knows how much energy?
January 11th, 2008 at 6:07 am
This one confuses me. How the hell did Biff install a staircase inside is elevator?
I think he spent more money builing the stairs instead of just using the elevator.
January 11th, 2008 at 7:07 am
this is quite funny, only biff would do that to an elevator, I did hear that they are trying to make an air powered elevator that use 1/4 of the electricity of a regular one
January 11th, 2008 at 8:27 am
That’s why I can’t be a banker. I don’t have the intense concentration it takes to keep those numbers straight. “Dang, forgot to carry the two at the top, now I’ll have to start all over.”
January 11th, 2008 at 9:14 am
I’ve seen those manual elevators in movies.
The elevator slubs were old loveable guys.
January 11th, 2008 at 10:05 am
Now THAT is surreal.
I love it!
January 11th, 2008 at 10:18 am
could imagine lift operators to be quite friendly in general, considering the job. It has alot of human contact, but very little meticulous … ness. It’s kinda like a taxi driver or barman i guess =p
January 11th, 2008 at 11:10 am
Well duh, people don’t notice you, only the paperwork has permanence, has existence. We only exist because papers say that something does. Xyzyzy
January 11th, 2008 at 11:27 am
I used to work the night shift in Ron Jon’s surf shop in Cocoa Beach, FL. I was basically an overpaid custodian. We (the night employees) used to fight over who got to clean the brass elevators, since the fumes from the brass polish got us all loopy (basically granting an extra guaranteed 15-minute break to recover).
January 11th, 2008 at 12:32 pm
yes! Biff has joined us in a plot to SAVE THE PLANEt!!! =D
and in other news, pi is ecofriendly o=
January 11th, 2008 at 2:12 pm
Hmmm. I was wondering the same thing as Ben up there was about how that could be possible, and decided *drum roll* spiral staircase!! If it spiraled up the elevator shaft instead of just going straight one way or the other, it might work.
January 11th, 2008 at 6:00 pm
Now I want to install a working elevator door in front of my stairs just to freak people out.
=D
January 11th, 2008 at 6:06 pm
The second floor isn’t quite wheelchair accessible I see….
January 11th, 2008 at 8:14 pm
Thank god for undiagnosed temporary dyslexia. I posted back on #327 (yes, I’m sure it’s not 372 or 237 or 273… it’s the “Forgot how to use his shoes” comic).
I said something about needing to get to 491, how glad I am not to be held hostage to this website any longer today, my stomach is growling.
Great Comic, going on my already way to long comics bookmark folder (when I choose “Open All in Tabs,” my computer, which I built myself, and I know what I’m doing, literally freezes for a few seconds as it tries to process my already enormous list of comics).
January 11th, 2008 at 8:14 pm
Post Double…
or should that be “undiagnosed dyslexia temporary”?
January 11th, 2008 at 11:18 pm
I don’t know, I have a job servicing banks, and I have yet to run into one where the people ignored me. Most of the time they’re breathing down my neck wondering when I’ll be done.
January 11th, 2008 at 11:54 pm
One of our family friends has a really old big house with an elevator, which they tore out and put in a staircase.
January 12th, 2008 at 12:12 am
A famous comedian said “An escalator can never become broke, it can only become stairs”. I can’t remember the guys name. He killed himself with drugs, which is too bad, because he was funny.
January 12th, 2008 at 1:48 am
I just want to see what Biff might do with a carbide cannon.
January 12th, 2008 at 2:00 am
Chivalrybean, I’m pretty sure it is the late Mitch Hedberg.
Maybe Biff could get Al Gore to carry him up the stairs.
January 13th, 2008 at 12:39 pm
Chivalrybean, that was for sure Mitch Hedberg. To carry on that, “The sign would say escalator temporarily stairs, sorry for the convenience”
January 13th, 2008 at 5:25 pm
I fell partway down an escalator once. Not fun, I assure you. Gashed up my leg pretty bad.
The Duck Has Spoken.
April 11th, 2008 at 3:56 am
Hmm… well I’m kind of shy around people I don’t know or don’t at least see often so I’d have probably done like the regular bank employees. I also tend to not want to disturb people when I have no idea how busy they are. I tend to assume they’re busy. Maybe they felt similarly?
July 15th, 2008 at 8:46 am
I’ve done a little cleaning, and it seems to be different depending on the workplace. Some places they try to get along with you, while at some places they get uncomfortable around you because the class system comes into conflict with modern ideals of equality, and it’s easier for them to avoid you than to deal with that.