By Amelia Rose Ritthaler
In a fit of despair, Erica Windsor missed her entire three-hour lecture while waiting for the SLC elevator.
Because of her burning desire for validation, she was convinced the only way she would ever feel good about herself was to wait it out for an SLC elevator, and prove everyone wrong.
The second-year biology student had a quiz in her 12 p.m. lecture and wanted to study during her break between classes. She almost took the stairs to the fifth floor, but she was tired from waking up at 4 a.m. to attend private crossfit classes, and figured gambling her time for the elevator was worth it.
She had taken the SLC elevator in the past and was prepared to give everything up to wait longer than anyone should ever have to wait for an elevator.
In a fleeting moment where Windsor relived her youth, she had a brief flashback to when she visited the CN Tower with her family. There, she had waited over 20 minutes to use the elevator, so she was well versed in the waiting game. Unfortunately, nothing could have prepared her for the SLC at peak lunch time on Thursday.
Just 10 minutes into waiting for one of the four elevators to arrive, Windsor began to question everything. She found herself wondering if the long wait time was a sign she should have taken a gap year. Becoming a rave girl in Australia for a year instead of academically enriching herself was beginning to seem like the better option.
She considered giving up and taking the stairs, but figured if she had learned anything from Oprah’s SuperSoul Conversations podcast, it was that patience and consistency garner success. One hour went by and she realized she was now late for her lecture. She was about to head for the stairs but knew in her bones the elevator would arrive as soon as she left and her grit would have all been for nothing.
She hoped the elevator would arrive at any second. Giving up now would make her incapable of ever experiencing joy again.
Another 45 minutes passed and still an elevator had not arrived. At this point, Windsor realized that she had now missed her opportunity to study for her quiz and that if she didn’t head to her lecture now, she would miss the quiz altogether. She was so confident the elevator would arrive in the next moment, so she decided to wait.
After four hours of waiting, one of the SLC elevators finally reached the first floor. Windsor realized she missed her entire lecture and the quiz, which was worth 20 per cent of her semester mark. She took the elevator to the beach floor and watched an entire season of Jane the Virgin in a bean bag chair before logging into RAMSS and dropping all of her classes.
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