Stuck in an IKEA elevator

Back in 2008, there was a guy who moved into an IKEA store. HE SEEMED TO HAVE SOME FUN DURING THAT week. Well, today I got stuck in an IKEA elevator with about 20 friends from church and it was nothing like that. We basically had a whole church except for the pastor and first lady. We had two assistant pastors, a deacon, a missionary, minister of music, Sunday school teacher, bible study teachers and more.

It started out innocent with a "friendship breakfast" at IKEA. After we had all eaten and played games, it was time to go home. So, we all except for a few stragglers and those who left early caught the elevator. If you've been to the store, you know that the only way-out is the elevator unless you want to take the scenic route through the store. So we all piled in (About ten adults and ten kids.) I Remember someone joking because in all the waiting, someone forgot to press the floor button. Once we did, that was it. 

    The elevator took us down half a floor and just stopped. We were stuck in between floors with no way out. We hit the little emergency alarm a few times, and heard a woman's voice say "are you stuck in an elevator?" The quick answer to that was " yes." She assured us someone was on the way. Meanwhile, phones came out. Some recorded the incident, others dialed for help from the outside. Others had no service at all and became games for the kids. I could hear the worry in some voices. One person asked if there was any air circulating in there. Someone else wondered aloud how much IKEA would give us for our trouble. A $50 gift card or flat screen TV sounded reasonable. So five minutes went by quick. One child called mom and broke down into tears. A few minutes later he was taking a nap.

Then 10 or 20 minutes in we heard a voice from below.... "Do you want me to call the fire department." quick answer "yes." Then she says "make sure you put the kids in a safe place!" we look around and answer back... " we're in an elevator. By then most of the kids had found a spot on the floor as the temperature began to rise. 
     Maybe 10 minutes went by and firefighters informed us they were going to try and reset the elevator. That didn't work. So on to plan B, everyone gets out one by one through a little escape hatch. First we passed the smaller kids up to safety. 
     Then with only adults left they tried to reset it again. Still nothing. So, they dropped a ladder down for us to crawl up one by one. It was pretty cool. Some said they did they get nervous until after seeing the outer workings of the elevator. I got a little light headed, nervous and shaky once I was out and sitting down. I was fine the whole time. Check it out... we did get something for our trouble: a bottle of water and a bar of chocolate.