“Residents,” he said, his voice dripping with a smug, condescending poison as he planted his boot in the elevator doorway, “wait.”
This was Julian, the self-appointed tyrant of our building’s only elevator.
For weeks, he’d held it hostage with a splintered broom handle, a monument to his own entitlement while the elderly waited and parents lugged strollers up flights of stairs. He was a petty bully in cargo shorts, counting on the fact that no one would dare make a scene.
He had just made a critical error, assuming my weapon of choice would be a shouting match instead of a quiet clipboard, the fine print in our condo bylaws, and the beautiful, unforgiving memory of a lobby security camera.
The First Tremor: The Broom in the Door
The first time I saw the broom, I thought it was a mistake. A forgotten tool left by the cleaning crew. It was wedged diagonally, its cheap yellow bristles splayed against one side of the elevator door, the splintered wooden handle propped against the other. The elevator car was held hostage, its doors gaping open into our lobby. A low hum emanated from the exposed machinery, a sound of perpetual waiting.
I shifted the weight of my grocery bags, the plastic handles digging into my palms. It was a Saturday. The one day I do the big shop for the week. My husband, Mark, was supposed to come, but a last-minute call from his office had chained him to his desk. So it was just me, a week’s worth of food, and eight floors between me and my refrigerator.
A man I’d never seen before stood with his back to me, half in the elevator, half out, directing a younger, skinnier version of himself. “No, Leo, pivot. Pivot! You’re gonna scratch the damn thing.”
The “thing” was a beat-up particleboard dresser that looked like it would disintegrate if you sneezed on it too hard. The man in charge was broad in a way that suggested a high school football career followed by two decades of beer and inactivity. He wore a faded college sweatshirt, cargo shorts despite the late autumn chill, and an air of profound, unearned authority.
I cleared my throat. “Excuse me,” I said, pitching my voice to be heard over the hum. “Do you know how long you’ll be?”
He glanced over his shoulder, his eyes doing a quick, dismissive scan. “Long as it takes.” He turned back to his work. “Leo, for God’s sake, lift with your legs. You want a hernia?”
I stepped closer. “It’s just that this is the only elevator.”
This time he turned fully, planting a hand on the door frame. He had the kind of face that was perpetually flushed, a testament to high blood pressure or a low boiling point. “Yeah. I know. I live here. Unit 3B. We’re moving my brother in. Unit 6B.” He gestured with his thumb at the sweating kid, Leo. “It’s a process.”
“There’s a sign,” I said, pointing to the silver plaque next to the call button. “It says moves should be scheduled with management, and the elevator can’t be held for more than fifteen minutes.”
He gave a short, barking laugh. “That’s for freight service. This is a ‘move assist.’ Different thing entirely.” He winked, as if letting me in on a clever loophole he’d personally invented. “We’ll be done when we’re done.”
He turned his back on me again, effectively ending the conversation. I looked past him, at the scuffed-up dresser, the single pathetic box sitting in the corner of the car. This wasn’t a move. This was a trickle. A slow, agonizing drip of furniture that was holding the entire building captive. And I was standing at the bottom of a very tall waterfall with a cart full of melting ice cream.
Eight Flights of Annoyance
There’s a unique kind of despair that sets in on the third flight of stairs when you’re carrying two weeks’ worth of groceries. The initial surge of righteous indignation fades, replaced by the dull, aching reality of gravity. The bag with the milk and orange juice started leaking condensation, leaving a cold, damp trail against my jeans. The one with the canned goods felt like a sack of bricks, and the box of Cheerios I’d balanced on top was threatening to tumble with every step.
By flight five, my breath was ragged. I had to stop, leaning against the cool concrete wall of the stairwell, the smell of dust and stale air filling my lungs. I could hear the faint echo of the man’s voice from the lobby—“PIVOT, LEO!”—and a fresh wave of irritation washed over me. This wasn’t just an inconvenience; it was an act of supreme selfishness. He lived on the third floor. He could take the stairs. His brother was moving to the sixth. Manageable. I lived on the eighth. My floor might as well have been the summit of Everest.
I thought of Mrs. Gable in 7A, who used a walker and relied on that elevator as her lifeline to the outside world. I thought of the Chens in 5C with their newborn and the mountain of gear that came with him. We all shared this space, this vertical hallway that made life in a high-rise possible. And this guy, this self-proclaimed lord of the lift, had decided his brother’s cheap dresser was more important than all of us.
When I finally fumbled with my keys at my own front door, my arms were trembling with fatigue. The plastic bags had left angry red welts on my skin. I shoved the door open and practically dropped the groceries on the floor of the entryway.
Mark looked up from his laptop at the kitchen island. “Hey, you made it. How was it?”
“The elevator is being held hostage by some guy in cargo shorts,” I panted, leaning against the door frame. “Had to take the stairs.”
Mark winced in sympathy. “Oh, that’s rough. Moving day, huh?”
“He said he was ‘assisting a move.’ And he propped the door open with a broom. A broom, Mark.”
“Well, it’s probably just for today,” he said, his eyes already drifting back to his screen. “Annoying, but what can you do?”
That was Mark’s philosophy for most of life’s minor injustices. A verbal shrug. An acceptance of the status quo. Usually, I agreed with him. But as I started unpacking the slightly-too-soft butter and the carton of milk that was now sweating profusely, a cold knot of resentment began to form in my stomach. What can you do? It felt less like a question and more like a surrender.
A Pattern Emerges
Two weeks later, the broom was back.
Same time. Saturday afternoon. Same cheap yellow bristles, same splintered handle, wedged into the same open elevator doors. The low, incessant hum filled the lobby like a migraine you couldn’t shake. And there he was: Cargo Shorts Guy, supervising the movement of a lumpy futon mattress.
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” I muttered to myself. This time, I only had one bag—a new space heater for our daughter Chloe’s dorm room, which she’d informed me via a string of dramatic texts was “literally an arctic tundra.” But the box was bulky and awkward, and the prospect of hauling it up eight flights of stairs made my shoulders ache in protest.
He saw me this time, a flicker of recognition in his eyes. He didn’t even offer a pretense of an apology. He just gave me a tight, challenging smirk. “Moving day, part two,” he announced, as if it were a blockbuster sequel I should be excited about.
“You know,” I began, my voice tighter than I intended, “the rest of us need to use this.”
“And you will,” he said, clapping his hands together and turning to his brother, who looked even more miserable than last time. “Soon as we get this beast upstairs. C’mon, Leo, show some hustle.”
I stood there for a moment, the heavy box digging into my hip. I watched them wrestle the mattress into the elevator, a clumsy, graceless ballet of grunts and scraped vinyl. It was clear this wasn’t a single, organized move. They were moving Leo in piece by agonizing piece, one carload at a time, every other weekend. They were treating the building’s only elevator like their personal U-Haul, and the rest of us were just scenery.
I turned and headed for the stairs, my blood simmering. The sheer, unadulterated entitlement of it was breathtaking. He wasn’t just breaking a rule; he was reveling in it. The smirk, the wink two weeks ago, the breezy dismissal—it was a performance. He was styling himself as the big shot, the guy who gets things done, who bends the world to his will. And the rest of us, the rule-followers, were just the audience for his sad little power trip.
As I trudged up the stairs, the awkward box banging against my legs, a thought began to solidify. Mark’s casual “What can you do?” echoed in my head. It wasn’t a surrender anymore. It was a challenge. And I, Althea Thompson, a freelance grant writer who spent her days navigating the labyrinthine bureaucracy of non-profit funding applications, knew one thing better than most: there is always something you can do. You just need the right paperwork.
The Seed of a Plan
Back in our apartment, I set the space heater down with a thud. I ignored Mark’s cheerful “Stairs again?” and went straight to my office. I pulled up the resident portal for our condo association, my fingers flying across the keyboard. It was all there, tucked away in a series of poorly formatted PDFs: the bylaws, the house rules, the schedule of fines and violations.
I scrolled through pages of legalese about pets and noise complaints and balcony decorations until I found it. Article IV: Use of Common Elements. Section B: Elevators.
It was beautifully, gloriously specific. Moves must be scheduled with the building manager at least 48 hours in advance. A non-refundable fee of $200 was required to reserve the freight elevator—which, in our thirty-year-old building, was the same as the passenger elevator, just with protective blankets hung up by the maintenance staff. Holding the elevator for any reason was strictly prohibited. Unscheduled use for moving furniture would result in a fine. The amount wasn’t trivial.
I leaned back in my chair, a slow smile spreading across my face. It was all there. The rules weren’t just a suggestion on a plaque; they were contractual obligations we all agreed to when we bought our units. This guy, Mr. 3B, wasn’t just being a jerk. He was violating the terms of his residency.
I glanced over at the small, leather-bound notebook I used for my work projects. A new project was taking shape in my mind. On my way down to the lobby to head out for a walk and cool off, I stopped by the doorman’s desk. Carlos, a kind man with tired eyes and a perfectly trimmed mustache, was reading a paperback.
“Another fun Saturday in the lobby, Carlos?” I asked.
He sighed, bookmarking his page. “You saw our friend, then.”
“Is it like this every time he’s… assisting?”
“Every other weekend. Like clockwork,” Carlos confirmed. “I tell him the rules. He says he knows the building manager, says they have an ‘understanding.’ I call Ms. Albright, I leave a message. On Monday, she says she never heard from him. My hands are tied, Althea. I can’t physically stop him.”
“I understand,” I said. And I did. Carlos was in an impossible position. But his words had given me the final piece of the puzzle. An ‘understanding.’ A lie. A blatant attempt to use a non-existent authority to bully his way through.
This wasn’t just about the stairs anymore. It was about the casual, corrosive dishonesty of it all. The way people like him assumed the rules were for everyone else.
I went home. I took out my leather notebook and a good pen. On the first page, in my neatest cursive, I wrote a title: The Elevator Project.
Escalation and Observation: The Clipboard Manifesto
Two weeks later, I was ready. I’d replaced the notebook with something more official-looking: a sturdy brown clipboard. I’d designed a simple logging sheet on my computer and printed ten copies. It had columns for Date, Time Started, Time Ended, Duration of Hold, Items Moved, and Witnesses. It felt a little unhinged, like something a conspiracy theorist would carry. I named it the Clipboard of Justice in my head.
Mark saw me standing by the door, clipboard in hand, getting ready to go down for the mail. “What’s that?” he asked, a hint of concern in his voice. “Bringing work with you to the mailbox?”
“Nope,” I said, tapping it with my finger. “This is for the Elevator Project.”
He stared at it, then at me. A slow dawning of comprehension crossed his face. “Oh, Althea. No. You’re not going to go down there and confront him with a clipboard.”
“I’m not confronting anyone,” I said calmly. “I’m observing. Documenting. There’s a difference.”
“You’re going to make it worse,” he warned. “People like that, they feed on this stuff. Just let it go. Take the stairs. It’s good for your heart.”
“My heart is perfectly healthy,” I retorted. “It’s my sense of civic order that’s having a tachycardia event. He’s counting on people like us to just ‘let it go.’ That’s how bullies operate. They rely on the social contract that says it’s embarrassing to make a scene.”
“So you’re going to make a scene?”
“No,” I said, clipping my pen to the top of the board with a satisfying snap. “I’m going to build a case.”
He sighed, running a hand through his hair. “Just… be careful. Don’t get into a yelling match in the lobby.”
“There will be no yelling,” I promised.
When I got to the lobby, the scene was exactly as I’d pictured. The broom was in the door. The low hum of the captive elevator filled the air. This time, Cargo Shorts Guy—Julian, I’d learned his name was from a package slip on the front desk—was directing the transfer of a stack of precariously balanced milk crates filled with books.
I didn’t say a word to him. I simply walked over to one of the uncomfortable lobby chairs, sat down, crossed my legs, and placed the clipboard on my lap. I clicked my pen and began to write, making my movements deliberate and visible.
Date: November 12th.
Time Started: 1:42 PM.
Julian noticed me within a minute. His commands to Leo faltered. He kept glancing over, a puzzled frown on his face. I didn’t look up. I just kept my eyes on my clipboard, occasionally tapping my pen against my chin as if deep in thought. He was trying to figure out what I was doing. Was I from the building? Management? A lunatic? The uncertainty was the point. For the first time, he wasn’t entirely in control of the lobby. The power dynamic had shifted, just a fraction of a degree. And it was intoxicating.
A Neighbor’s Burden
My documentation continued. The next time the broom appeared, I was ready. I’d just come back from a walk when I saw Julian and Leo wrestling a lopsided floor lamp through the main doors. I gave them a polite, meaningless smile, took my seat in the lobby, and started a new log sheet.
Today, the collateral damage of their operation was on full display. The Chen family came through the lobby, their baby fussing in his carrier. Mr. Chen, looking exhausted, saw the elevator and his shoulders slumped. He exchanged a weary look with his wife, and without a word, they headed for the stairwell, him hauling the stroller and her managing the baby and a diaper bag.
I made a note in the ‘Witnesses’ column: The Chens, Apt 5C (w/ infant).
A few minutes later, Mrs. Gable from 7A shuffled into the lobby, leaning heavily on her walker. She was dressed for her weekly bridge game, a vibrant purple coat over her dress. She saw the open elevator, then she saw Julian, and her face, usually so cheerful, fell.
“Oh, dear,” she murmured, more to herself than anyone else.
Julian, to my surprise, actually acknowledged her. “Just be a few more minutes, Eleanor,” he said, using her first name with a familiarity that felt unearned.
Mrs. Gable gave a weak smile. “It’s just… my ride will be here any moment, Julian. I can’t be late.”
“Almost done,” he grunted, pushing a box of kitchen supplies into the car. He wasn’t looking at her. He was looking at the box. She was just another obstacle.
Mrs. Gable waited, her hands trembling slightly on the grips of her walker. Five minutes passed. Ten. Her car service called, and she had to tell them to wait. The tension in the lobby was thick enough to chew. Julian and Leo finally crammed the last box in and disappeared into the elevator, the doors sliding shut behind them with a final, mocking hiss.
The elevator indicator lit up: 6. Then it came back down. The whole process took fourteen minutes. Fourteen minutes Mrs. Gable was forced to wait, standing, anxious about her ride. When the doors finally opened, she pushed her walker in with a quiet sigh of relief.
I wrote it all down. Mrs. Gable, Apt 7A (w/ walker), delayed 14 mins.
This wasn’t just my inconvenience. It was a tax levied on the vulnerable, a tariff of time and energy paid by everyone in the building so Julian could play the role of the big, helpful brother. My resolve hardened. This wasn’t petty anymore. It was a matter of principle.
The Ghost in the Machine
It was during the fourth documented incident—the one involving a truly hideous beige sectional sofa—that I saw the crack in the facade. Julian was in rare form, barking orders and sweating through his sweatshirt. They had one piece of the sofa wedged in the doorway, and he was getting increasingly frustrated.
“Push, Leo! Push! It’s not rocket science!”
“I am pushing,” Leo wheezed, his face pale with exertion. “It’s stuck on something.”
“It’s not stuck, you’re just not trying!” Julian yelled. He gave the sofa a furious shove, and it scraped against the metal doorframe with a sound like tearing metal. A long, silver gash appeared on the previously pristine brushed steel.
Leo flinched. “Julian, stop. You’re damaging the building.”
“The building will be fine,” Julian snarled, but his voice lacked its usual conviction. He looked at the scratch, then at his brother. For a brief second, his mask of command slipped. I saw a flicker of something else: panic. He wasn’t a master of the universe; he was a guy in over his head, trying to move a couch that was too big, for a brother he was probably trying to impress, and now he’d caused actual, visible damage.
He shot a look over at me, sitting in my usual spot with my clipboard. His eyes narrowed. I was no longer a curious oddity; I was a witness. A record-keeper. He knew, on some level, that I’d seen the scratch happen. That I might even be writing it down. Which I was. Item: Beige sectional sofa. Incident: Scraped and damaged west elevator doorframe at 2:17 PM.
Later, as they were taking a break, I saw Leo approach him. They were talking in low, urgent whispers. I couldn’t hear the words, but Leo’s body language was clear: apologetic, pleading. Julian’s was rigid, defensive. He kept shaking his head.
It dawned on me then. This whole charade probably wasn’t even Julian’s idea. It was born of necessity. Leo likely couldn’t afford professional movers, so he’d asked his big brother for help. And Julian, in his desperate need to appear capable and in-charge, had turned a simple request into this bi-weekly siege. He was performing competence for his brother, and the whole building was his unwilling stage. It didn’t excuse his behavior, not by a long shot. But it made it sadder. More pathetic. He wasn’t a king in his castle. He was just a man terrified of looking weak in front of his little brother.
A Conversation with Management
The following Monday, with four detailed log sheets in my bag, I made an appointment to see Ms. Albright, the building manager. Her office was a small, windowless room in the basement that smelled faintly of chlorine from the nearby pool. She was a woman in her late sixties with stern glasses and a no-nonsense bun, the kind of person who seemed born to enforce bylaws.
I laid it all out for her: the recurring issue, the broom, the specific violations of Article IV, Section B. I handed her the log sheets. She read through them, her expression unreadable.
“You’ve been very thorough, Mrs. Thompson,” she said, peering at me over her glasses.
“I believe in documentation,” I replied.
She tapped the pages on her desk. “I’ve received other complaints. Voicemails. A few angry emails. Nothing I can really act on. It’s always ‘he said, she said.’ Julian Gray, Unit 3B, denies everything. Says he’s just bringing up a few things for his brother. Claims people are exaggerating.”
“I have witnesses,” I said, pointing to the names on the list. “Carlos at the front desk can verify this. The Chens. Mrs. Gable.”
“And I can call them,” she said. “And Mr. Gray will say they’re all ganging up on him. He’ll say he was only holding the door for a moment. Without video evidence or a formal, documented complaint from someone willing to stand by it, my hands are tied. The condo board is very particular about levying fines. They need an ironclad case.”
My heart sank a little. “So, these logs aren’t enough?”
“They’re a very good start,” she said, and a tiny, conspiratorial smile touched her lips. “A very, very good start. What would make it ironclad, however, is catching him in the act. If, for example, an incident were to occur, and you were to immediately file a complaint citing the specific time, and I could then cross-reference that with the security camera footage from the lobby…” She let the sentence hang in the air.
“I see,” I said, the final pieces of the plan clicking into place.
“The camera records on a loop,” she continued, as if discussing the weather. “We only pull the footage if there’s a formal request tied to a specific incident. For security reasons, you understand.”
“Perfectly,” I said, gathering my papers. I had the bylaws. I had the method. And now, I had the tacit approval of the system itself. All I had to do was wait for Julian to hand me the loaded gun.
About the Author
