March 02, 2007

By: Will

I had been volunteering at the seniors' lodge in Olds for about three months by the time I got to know all of the residents pretty well. Part of my responsibilities included sorting cans and bottles in a 6 x 6 foot tin shed.

One day while hard at work, a woman who I recognized as a resident of the lodge, came over to the shed to visit with me. She began talking about her kids, but then started talking about the weirdest things I'd ever heard of in my life. After some time, I told her that I had to finish my work and that she had better continue on her walk. Although she seemed upset, she made her way out of the shed. I asked her to shut the door behind her because it was cold. She did and I went about my work.

After I was done sorting the cans into the flats, I went to leave, but the door wouldn't budge. Unfortunately, there wasn't a lot of room to move around in the shed because there were two power scooters parked in there for the winter. I climbed on top of one of the scooters and through a crack in the door could see that the lady had put the padlock back on the door before she continued on her walk! I was locked in!

I was starting to get cold and began wondering how the heck I was going to get out of this shed. I sat there for a good hour calling to anyone to come and unlock the door. No luck.

My next idea was to try and break down the door. Well, if you know about little TIN sheds that isn't exactly easy! I was kicking and pushing, but nothing.

Finally I broke a little orange flag off of the back of one of the power scooters. I stuck it through the crack in the door and was calling out in hopes that someone would hear me.

After I'd spent about 2 1/2 hours sitting in a freezing shed, my coordinator was decided to leave the lodge thinking that I was a no-show! By this time I had given up on calling for help, but I saw her getting into her car, and I started frantically flinging that flag as hard as I could and screaming at the top of my lungs. Thank god she heard me! She came over to the shed and unlocked the door, almost in tears from laughing so hard! Let's just say, I wasn't happy!

And even though this was a horrible experience, I still went back and did my work like it never happened. I just didn't go in the shed any more.