I can do dumb things sometimes .. dammit!

I haven't had the chance to bitch and gripe about the lifts that are in the Woodlands Civic Centre. There are 4 lifts servicing the whole freaking building. FOUR! FREAKING FOUR. There are altogether 7 storeys .. 2 of which are the basement levels .. Basement 2 right at the bottom is just the carpark while Basement 1 is part car park and also NTUC supermarket. The rest of the floors have restaurants, a few banks, a post office, a large number of shops and educational centres. Kinderland, which is where Lauren and Emily attend school is also in the same buliding - on the 5th floor. Kinderland is NOT only a nursery and a kindy .. it is also a daycare centre for little kids.

It is an agonizing exercise in patience everyday when I fetch the girls to and fro school. I usually park at B2 so that it is easier to get into the lift since it is the last floor before it goes up again. And trust me, you'd think that would be easy but a lot of people who cannot get into the lift going up on the first floor end up getting into the lift going down just so they can be in the lift at all .. after all, the lift will go back up and there are only those few floors. BUT that is something I have no problems with .. what I have such an issue with is the fact that the lifts are inadequate for the building and the amount of people who travel up and down the whole day! .. The worst part is that even though the building does have escalators. Get this - the escalators only go up from the first to 3rd floor. WTH?!! Why not have escalators going up right to the top??!! WHY?? WHY?!! WHY??!! Were they trying to save money in
NOT installing those few extra escalators?!!

It is utterly frustrating cos almost everyone who needs to go BEYOND the 3rd floor will end up taking the lifts. Of course, u can use the stairs. But there are a lot of old people, people with strollers and wheelchairs that have no choice but to take the lifts. And of course, I park at B2 so there is no way in hell I am walking up seven floors to the kindy with my maid, kids and toddler on a daily basis!

I had recently asked the school administrator for the contact details of the building management so that I could write a scathing letter to them about the utter oblivion to the whole lift situition. So there I was, all ready to start writing my email today. And I already stored their number on my iPhone so that I could start complaining to them on a regular basis about the overcrowding lift situation.

Then it happened. TODAY.

You are so going to die laughing.

I was with my maid and Calista this afternoon in the lift .. we had gotten into the lift at B2 (where I usually park) and at level 1, some of other moms that I am chummy with, walked in as well. We were, of course on our way up to fetch our kids.

We were chatting and joking happily .. and laughing etc ..

The lift door opens at level 5 .. and my friends walked out and I was right behind them. I felt something drop.

I looked down. I was directly above the gap between the lift and the floor (the gap leads to the lift shaft of course) .. my friend says, "Hey what did you drop?" at the same exact moment I realized that I HAD DROPPED MY BLARDY BLARDY CAR KEY INTO THE GAP!!

SIGH.

I was horrified. Seriously. And I knew my hubby was going to yell at me.

HAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAH!

I walked to the management office and told them what had happened. Of course, they were dismayed. LOL! They were really helpful though and promised that I would get my key back before the day was out. They needed to contact the contractor that regularly services their lifts to retrieve the key for me. Wow, that would've been a conversation I wished I had been privy to .. "Uncle, can u come now? .. No, no .. the lifts are working fine .. some idiot woman dropped her car key into the lift shaft .. ya la, so stupid can die right?" ... I can only IMAGINE.

Of course, after I got the girls, I remembered that Stanley had told me he would be home early .. so I called him and he had just parked in our condo carpark. Firstly he asked what happened to the car. hahahahah! .. Of course, I had to tell him.

Other than saying "Oh shit" when I said it dropped into the lift shaft, he didn't scold me.

HAHAHAH! I love the man!!

He quickly got the spare key and rushed down to the Civic Centre and we got home just fine after the girls had a quick snack at Macs.

The management was really pretty efficient. And hour and a half later, someone called me to let me know that they had my key safe and sound. Thank goodness. I expected it to be broken .. not the metal key part .. but the plastic part where the buttons were. It did fall down SEVEN floors down to the bottom.

So now, tell me, HOW am I going to write my letter to them expressing my utter frustration about the sad lack of lifts and escalators when they had so kindly and quickly retrieved my key for me? HOW??!!

Guess I'll be shelving that letter for a while.

DAMN.

Anyway, after all that's said and done, I learnt a few things today.

1. I get distracted very easily when I'm chatting happily with my friends.
2. I need to tie that key holder to my wrist. I can't put it in my bag (one of the ladies I was with asked me WHY I didn't keep my key in my bag. Simple. My bag is like a Black Hole .. key goes in, dunno where it is and I have such a hard time finding it later .. I've tried it before) ..
3. THANK GOODNESS IT WAS MY CAR KEY AND NOT MY IPHONE. Lol !! I have a spare car key. I don't have a spare iPhone.