[ WP ] Short story that takes place in a single elevator ride .

Erik was in the wrong elevator, he knew he was in the wrong elevator, but he had grown frustrated as he'd continually tried to summon the right elevator, and kept getting the wrong one. His garbage cart was filled with broken pieces of drywall and bent and twisted sections of steel stud. If he so much as trailed dust behind apon leaving the mirrored, gold trim elevator his job would be gone so fast he'd lose his breathe. The residents of this condo building had lost all patience for continued construction, after two years of delays, every thing had been finished, only to have a water main on the eighth floor burst, and ruin the drywall and flooring in a dozen units. One elevator had been carefully boarded up to protect it from damage from the contractors, and one had been left pretty for the residents, the problem being, that the contractors only had one elevator out of the two to use, and the residents just used whatever elevator showed up. 
 Every floor was a heart attack, waiting to see the door open to a angry strata council member, or one of the sales managers from his own company. His impatience at the moment, was now his greatest regret, well, second greatest, deciding to smoke that joint at lunch with Tony had in hindsight, been a terrible idea. 
 Forth floor, 3 to go, Erik was now so nervous he began to sweat, he could n't stop noticing how red his eyes looked in the mirrors that surrounded him, he was fairly sure that he was so stoned that he would not manage to explain himself to anyone if the door should open, he considered just going home, finding another job tonight and pretend that he had never been here at all. 
 He stood, hands curled around his cart's handle, staring at the floor counter, this trip seemed endless. He could n't understand how the guys on his crew thought toking at work made the day more relaxing. Finally he arrived at the first floor, the door opened, A man in a suit greeted him by name. 
 
 `` Good to see you again Erik, pretty dusty up there I see? I'll talk to someone about getting you in some eye protection, good to see you again'' The big boss, Charlie, a man Erik had only seen at his interview, Erik stammered a quick response as he pushed his cart into the lobby. 
 
 `` Thanks'' 
'Thanks', that was it he thought?, as he rolled his cart to the dump truck outside, `` Christ, never again'' he muttered to himself as he envisioned the dooby Tony had conjured forth out of his cigarette pack. He tossed the garbage in the truck, headed back to the building, and suddenly remembered he had n't got the FOB back from Tony that would allow him to take the elevator back up. 
 
 `` fuck''
