Morning
Posted on by Debbie

Why you should take your phone with you EVERYWHERE!

Why you should take your phone with you everywhere. This is a cautionary and true story.

Over the weekend I had a strangely familiar sensation.

I was locked in. Again.

In December 2014 I found myself locked in a stairwell in a shopping centre at 4 am and it was not fun!  Luckily I had my phone with me and rang 000, the emergency number.  The first question I was asked was who I needed to be connected to – Police, Fire or Ambulance and I didn’t know which one to select.  I wasn’t on fire or injured so I went with Police.  I was connected to a helpful lady who asked me how much phone battery I had on my phone.  My first thought was how long am I going to be stuck in here??  Anyway long story short  I was rescued by a security guard and released from my stairwell prison.  Of course  I wrote a post about it – Police, Fire or Ambulance

So back to the weekend.  I was at a Rotary Youth Exchange camp for returning students and their parents and the current students here from all over the world – we call them rebounders and inbounders by the way. All was going swimmingly.

I decided to join the group at the beach, grabbed my hat and my phone and went to the toilet.  But then disaster struck –  I couldn’t get out of the toilet cubicle, I was locked in!

What to do?  As thoughts swirled through my mind I was reminded of my stairwell incident and tried not to panic – a certain sense of déjà vu swept over me.

I fiddled with the lock unsuccessfully and considered my options. The cubicle was as tight as a drum, small and compact. No window access and no space to crawl out under the door – all this flashed through my mind in seconds!!

This is the dodgy lock – once again lucky I had my phone with me or I wouldn’t have been able to take a photo of it for evidence!

Lock

I knew the committee members had just started a new session so decided to ring each of them until someone answered their phone.  That was a very logical thought and I was pleased with myself for being so rational under the circumstances!

Luckily I had my phone with me! My first call was answered and I laughingly described my situation. The rescue team immediately sprang into action but were unsuccessful in getting the lock open.  We had some interesting banter while all this was going on!  In the end they had to call the centre’s maintenance man who was also unsuccessful and decided the only option left was to kick the door open with his huge size 11 boots. His instructions to me were to ‘stand back’ – I laughed as I was in a tiny cubicle with no room to swing a cat let alone move out of the way.  I did turn my back to the door just in case any debris from the door came hurtling my way.  Always sensible, that’s me!

CRACK!! The next thing the door was kicked in and I was free!!  I was very happy to be out after 35 minutes of imprisonment.  To think I worked in a jail for 22 years and never felt imprisoned but 35 minutes in a cubicle (and previously a stairwell) could leave me with feelings of elation at being released!

I must say that in the time I was locked in I managed to text my 3 daughters – one in UK, one in Canberra (3 hours away) and one in Brisbane (days of driving away), just to alert them to the fact I was ‘stuck’.  Lucky I had my phone with me or they wouldn’t have known of my predicament !! I must say they were suitably impressed with one hoping I was only locked in and not stuck in the toilet bowl, another said it could only happen to me and the other one slept through the whole thing. My husband was at the beach with the students and didn’t have his phone with him so didn’t know anything about it until I turned up at the beach to tell him the story. He just laughed!

BUT the moral to the story is thank goodness I had my phone with me – or it could have been a much longer period of incarceration.  On both occasions!

This is a photo I took earlier that morning while out walking, it is infinitely more relaxing to look at than the inside of a toilet cubicle!

Morning

My sincere thanks to everyone who helped with the situation, even those who just laughed at me.

Since my release I haven’t been able to lock any bathroom doors!

Enjoy your day 🙂

Deb

32 Replies to “Why you should take your phone with you EVERYWHERE!”

  3. Good grief. This is a nightmare scenario that would make me panic … stuck in a confined space. Am I seeing a theme here with you? 😉

    What puzzles me though is the locked stairwell. That sounds terribly dangerous from a building evacuation perspective. I thought an emergency exit to the ground floor was a building code requirement … if it isn’t, it should be!!

    Half the time I’m not even certain I know where my phone is. You’ve given me incentive to be more diligent about that!

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    1. Thanks Joanne! I don’t mean to frighten you but it is worth thinking about. In regard to the locked stairwell I don’t understand how they could do that either. You would think they’d need an emergency exit somewhere!! I’m now prepared for anything as I don’t want this trend to continue 😊

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  6. What I think is interesting about this account Deb is that as you say, you worked in a prison for so long and never felt ‘locked in’, yet you experienced this in a mall stairwell, and, of all things, a toilet. Maybe your subconscious was giving you these experiences to provide empathy for all those people you worked with for so long? i cannot stand being locked in, and take this even to liking to sit ‘with a view out’ at restaurants. Once I was stuck in a very rickety lift in China – I was with my husband of the time who remained very cool and calm – but I do not like this experience one bit. Our phones are our lifelines, in many ways. For me its not at all a laughing matter. claustrophobia can cause very real and severe discomfort. not that im saying you have that, of course….

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    1. Thanks Debbie for your interesting response to my post and for sharing your insights and experience. I feel for you and your claustrophobia, I’m like that with edges, as we’ve discussed before. I’m fortunate I was OK with this situation but as you say, many others wouldn’t be. I agree our phone are our lifeline in many ways. Thanks again for your comment 🙂

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  10. I promise I’m not giggling! We have two dodgy toilets at work places I visit and I always try to remember but always end up locking myself in! I have learnt that long strong finger nails can double as screw drivers when absolutely necessary. I’m glad there is a happy ending. At least you had a toilet (giggles) unlike the stairwell….you were covered if you needed to ummm go!

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  11. Sage advice, Deb. I nearly always have mine with me, though not usually when I go to the toilet. Time for a change of habit, perhaps. I’ve also taken to carrying a power pack with me (which I try to keep fully charged). I was once stuck on the highway when it was closed due to an accident with little battery in my phone and no car charger. Luckily I had my computer with me and was able to charge the phone off that so I could contact home.
    Glad your adventures had happy endings.

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  13. Hahaha Oh Deb, this was hilarious. You’d better skip my latest post which talks about solitude and leaving your phone behind. Clearly this was not the time or place for a bit of solitude! Loved it. And hey, look on the bright side, not only did you get a blog post out of it but you got in touch with family and no doubt had some nice chats. Thanks for brightening up my Monday morning. 😊

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  14. Like you, I’m a “just in case” person. I don’t use my phone much, and except for an infrequent slew of notifications, my phone doesn’t ring much either. I’m glad of this, but still make sure it’s fully charged and in my handbag before leaving the house. It sounds like you didn’t panic, and aren’t particularly claustrophobic, but still boo hiss on being stuck anywhere, and not being able to leave when it’s time.

    Now that you’re out…I hope you consider this experience as one you will be able to tell over and over again to an audience of one or many. I’ve decided to look at all life’s ups and downs as fodder for sharing. After all…life is a story book of experiences isn’t it?!

    Glad you moved on and are once again using your phone, and possibly camera, for taking the lovely snaps you love sharing with readers here on WordPress. Bravo for getting on with it!!!

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