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The Green Button
It’s rare that an inanimate object achieves celebrity status, but that is what happened to elevator number seven of the TransCorp building.
It was just like any other working day, people cramming themselves into the elevator pressing their floor buttons. No-one taking much notice to the bright green star shaped button that had suddenly appeared. In fact, the button would have probably gone unnoticed for awhile if it wasn’t for the warning label emblazoned below it.
DO NOT PRESS!
Facilities quickly got involved, demanding to know from the maintenance company who serviced the elevators, what was the meaning of installing a button with the instructions DO NOT PRESS!
The maintenance company were just as in the dark as TransCorp and sent an engineer over immediately to see what danger the button was posing.
The engineer, puffed out his cheeks, scratched his head, made a few phone calls, scratched his head some more and came to the conclusion that he could not see what the button would activate if pressed.
Terrorists were briefly considered, but since the building had twenty-four-hour security at the front desk. They were soon ruled out.
Once talk of terrorists were dismissed, the little green button soon became the topic of conversation among the workforce. What would happen if someone were to press it?
Long queues formed outside elevator number seven constantly throughout the day, with people now wanting to take selfies of themselves. Fingers poised dangerously close to the button, looking as if at any moment the picture taker was going to press the button.
Some of the more artistic workers of TransCorp, composed songs to upload on YouTube. While others wrote poems to share in the online company magazine. A prize going to the most original.
One entrepreneur even went to the trouble of getting some t-shirts printed with a picture of the green button and the slogan, ‘DARE YOU PRESS!’ All proceeds made, going obviously to charity.
However, sadly one day all this good-natured hype came crashing down unexpectedly. Despite the email put out by the management in the beginning, instructing staff that under no circumstances were they to press the button. Somebody did!
One morning when a group of people stepped in to ride the elevator, they found a mobile phone lying on the elevator floor next to a pool of blood! All thoughts of the little green button quickly vanished.
Security cleaned the blood off the floor and phone, then proceeded to see who it belonged too. The person who dropped the phone was clearly in need of medical attention. Fortunately, the phone was not locked and upon activation, security found two recent photos.
The first, was of the phone’s owner taking a selfie clearly pressing the button. The second, was a blurred picture of the owner’s face contorted in agony.
Was the phone owner ever found? No.
And as for the star shape green button, that too just disappeared along with its warning,
DO NOT PRESS!
© Alice White
It was just like any other working day, people cramming themselves into the elevator pressing their floor buttons. No-one taking much notice to the bright green star shaped button that had suddenly appeared. In fact, the button would have probably gone unnoticed for awhile if it wasn’t for the warning label emblazoned below it.
DO NOT PRESS!
Facilities quickly got involved, demanding to know from the maintenance company who serviced the elevators, what was the meaning of installing a button with the instructions DO NOT PRESS!
The maintenance company were just as in the dark as TransCorp and sent an engineer over immediately to see what danger the button was posing.
The engineer, puffed out his cheeks, scratched his head, made a few phone calls, scratched his head some more and came to the conclusion that he could not see what the button would activate if pressed.
Terrorists were briefly considered, but since the building had twenty-four-hour security at the front desk. They were soon ruled out.
Once talk of terrorists were dismissed, the little green button soon became the topic of conversation among the workforce. What would happen if someone were to press it?
Long queues formed outside elevator number seven constantly throughout the day, with people now wanting to take selfies of themselves. Fingers poised dangerously close to the button, looking as if at any moment the picture taker was going to press the button.
Some of the more artistic workers of TransCorp, composed songs to upload on YouTube. While others wrote poems to share in the online company magazine. A prize going to the most original.
One entrepreneur even went to the trouble of getting some t-shirts printed with a picture of the green button and the slogan, ‘DARE YOU PRESS!’ All proceeds made, going obviously to charity.
However, sadly one day all this good-natured hype came crashing down unexpectedly. Despite the email put out by the management in the beginning, instructing staff that under no circumstances were they to press the button. Somebody did!
One morning when a group of people stepped in to ride the elevator, they found a mobile phone lying on the elevator floor next to a pool of blood! All thoughts of the little green button quickly vanished.
Security cleaned the blood off the floor and phone, then proceeded to see who it belonged too. The person who dropped the phone was clearly in need of medical attention. Fortunately, the phone was not locked and upon activation, security found two recent photos.
The first, was of the phone’s owner taking a selfie clearly pressing the button. The second, was a blurred picture of the owner’s face contorted in agony.
Was the phone owner ever found? No.
And as for the star shape green button, that too just disappeared along with its warning,
DO NOT PRESS!
© Alice White
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