Classic Minute Mystery

[dreamshark]

This guy leaves his apartment on the 20th floor, heading to work. He gets tired of waiting for the elevator, and takes the stairs instead. When he enters the lobby, he immediately realizes that his wife is dead.


The electricity is off, and his wife is in an iron lung.



Similarly: Some engineers notice a hand-written change to the office map, and realize that they'll have to find new jobs. That's how it feels. Not quite the same as being the dead wife in the story, but still a nasty shock.

Comments

[sraun]

Are you one of the "some engineers"? If so, good luck!

[dreamshark.livejournal.com]

No. See my last two posts for details. But the situation looks sufficiently grim that pretty much everybody is now job searching on some level or other. I'm updating my resume and looking around to see what's out there.

Are there any companies left standing in this area that do computer or storage networking?

[sraun]

I had noted your last couple of postings - I was just wondering if this was new information related to you.

I've never really tracked what computer-related companies are around in the area - my skill set has been better matched to a bigger corporate IT department. CNT was big enough to need dedicated desktop support - a small to medium sized start-up isn't. A computer company needs a serious sales & marketing staff before it starts hiring desktop support people.

[dreamshark.livejournal.com]

Actually the point of my little anecdote is that even if YOU aren't the "dead wife" you still realize with a horrible sinking sensation that your entire life has suddenly changed. To clarify, no, I am not the dead wife.

[barondave.livejournal.com]

You (metaphorically speaking) could have a dead wife and be stuck in the elevator, so it's a good thing you took the stairs. I suspect you have options. Good luck.

[huladavid.livejournal.com]

oh shit.

[dreamshark.livejournal.com]

I always appreciate a metaphorical response to a metaphorical comment. Thanks. I'm exploring back doors near the stairwell right now.

[dreamshark.livejournal.com]

Actually, now that I reread my own metaphor, I see that I AM one of "those engineers." Not because I've been laid off, but because we've started the downward spiral and it's just a matter of time.

[daedala.livejournal.com]

I'm sorry. Job hunting sucks.

[skylarker.livejournal.com]

When he enters the lobby he sees her body lying there? Lying in the stalled elevator?

I think there's more than one possible solution here.

[skylarker.livejournal.com]

Not to ignore the metaphor, but maybe there's more than one clue needed for the complete answer, and additional clues might offer more options for dealing with the situation if it looks like the dead wife's condition is contagious.

[dreamshark.livejournal.com]

There are lots more clues. The way Minute Mysteries work (at least the format I'm familiar with) is as an interactive game along the line of 20 questions. The other player asks things like, "Was the elevator later than it usually is?" "Was the man's wife in the apartment when he left?" and so on.

Most of the stories are actually a bit tenuous, but it's fun trying to work through the background logic. The real problem with this one is that it's so very dated. There may have been a time when people kept family members on life support equipment in their homes with no Uninterruptable Power Supply for backup, but I don't think it's very likely now. If you want to make a metagame out of it, try to figure out when this particular story was made up. The "iron lung" suggests the 1950's to me.

[skylarker.livejournal.com]

1950s sounds about right. And the 20 questions approach makes the answer more likely to be arrivable at (?) if you'll pardon the weird grammatical construction there.