In any rate, I took the elevator ride from hell this morning

When elevators get look on oil, they "cavitate" and suck in a lot of air. The sensation for you, the rider, is that the floor vibrates and there is a humming noise. The lower it is on oil, the more the floor vibrates and the louder the humming.

The elevator will not drop. You will not fall. You are safe. It is loud and annoying and scary, but you are not in danger of falling.

Elevators only cavitate when it goes UP. An elevator will seem totally fine when you head down, but when you go up, THAT is when you learn that it is cavitating.

It is usually only on the top-most floors, but again, the lower it is on oil, the more it will do it on lower floors.

The building I was in has 4 floors. Usually, it only cavitates between the 3rd and 4th floors.

This time, I could hear it as soon as I stepped in on floor 1.

The floor started vibrating as soon as the car moved, and it got so loud that I couldn't hear myself think. I could actually feel the car struggling to get to the 4th floor, it would kind of hover, sink and then go up, sink and then go up, over and over again.

Have you ever been in an earthquake? It's like that, but times 6.

(But remember, it is totally safe.)

As it was struggling to get to the 4th floor, I was technically stuck.

In this event, hit the emergency button. I know, you think you're not supposed to, but HIT THE DAMN BUTTON.

It calls the elevator company immediately to get you out. It is not embarrassing, that is literally what they are there for.

This button also sends a diagnostic signal to the elevator company so that they can immediately troubleshoot what went wrong. You don't hit it, someone may get stuck right after you and they won't know what exactly went wrong.

I didn't hit the button because:

It is my job. I intentionally rode that elevator that I knew was cavitating to gauge how bad it was and to time it. I already knew the company was on the way and was trained and prepared for this kind of scenario.

To repair a cavitating elevator, the techs come in and add oil. Literally. That's it, and then they ride it a few times to make sure that it shuts up.

However, the phone operators are especially trained to handle entrapments. They will talk to you if you have anxiety, they will keep you calm, and, if you have a medical emergency, they will call EMTs. So yes, trust in the button.

They gotchu.