An amazing New York Times article: Kyle Hausmann, a 24-year-old Bed Stuy resident and paralegal found himself recently trapped at the Trophy Bar in Williamsburg, Brooklyn after employees not realizing he was still there (he had imbibed more than a few) locked up for the night. One would think it would be a simple matter of making a couple phone calls, but it was a bit more complicated than that.
Calling the police seemed extreme, so instead he dialed up friends on his cellphone. But no one picked up — it was 6 a.m. Finally, a friend who was staying at his apartment in Bedford-Stuyvesant answered and tried to shake Mr. Hausmann’s roommate awake. “Kyle’s stuck somewhere; he needs your help,” the friend mumbled. But the roommate slept on and the friend fell back asleep.[...]
So he tried another round of phone calls. Finally, he reached a friend who agreed to come to the bar. The plan was for Mr. Hausmann to slip the keys under the security gate, and for the friend to open the padlock. The friend showed up, and began calling Mr. Hausmann’s cellphone and banging on the security gate. But by that time Mr. Hausmann had fallen asleep on a bench out back.
Mr. Hausmann eventually woke up and again called his friend, who agreed to come back. It was around 8:30 a.m., 12 ½ hours after his night at the bar began.
An experience like this really defines the definition of a true friendship. Which of your friends would do this for you? Maybe I should start sleeping with my phone on just in case one of my buddies becomes trapped in a bar or elevator. At the least, Hausmann owes his buddy a beer or two.
Read more here and check out the bar's own blog coverage of the incident, including a note Hausmann wrote them.