What is the Definition of an Elevator?

Part of my day job involves delivering vending machines. My boss and I showed up to a three-story building to perform an installation. We had machines to deliver to each floor. After a thorough recon of the ground floor, I found only one elevator. It was so small that we would have to partially disassemble each vending machine to fit it inside.

Freight elevators aren’t technically mandatory in building codes. But, every piece of furniture in that entire building could not possibly have been ushered to its final destination via this metal box that would make Houdini claustrophobic.

Luckily, the Maintenance Supervisor happened by. I asked him if there were any other elevators in the building.

He said, “Yea, we got three.”

My jaded heart skipped a beat! For an instant, I felt like the Grinch when he developed enlarged heart disease. Maybe this planet was worth inhabiting, after all.

He continued, “We got this one here. Then, we got another one on the second floor, same place. Then we got one on the third floor, same place.”