@Bobby Cole Some folks feel just the same way, and relieve such fears by carrying concealed........ Frank
For me, it’s a matter of control. When I speak to a single person or in front of a couple of thousand, I am in control. If, in the circumstance of an elevator, if there are one, two or even three people, I am totally confident should any situation arise but more than that number and I get a little uh, “testy”. But, back to being “stuck” in an elevator, I’ve been there and 26 floors of being stuck. There were only 2 others with me and for me, it was a wonderful adrenaline rush. Just the factor of being so high up and the uncertainty if the big Otis brakes would hold or not was one factor and watching the fear build in the other two people was the icing on the cake but alas, it was also a time for some relaxing words to help calm the matter. They succumbed to reason and even started laughing at a couple of jokes I was making and all was well. Unfortunately, the elevator started up again after about five minutes and I wrote “unfortunately” because honestly, I was having too much fun! Twenty-six floors up was great but I do wonder at times if another twenty floors or so higher might have been even better! Oh yeah, a little trivia. Einstein had his first great epiphany concerning relativity by riding in an elevator. He later even had his thought experiments performed in a laboratory which was built in an elevator.https://www.thegreatcoursesdaily.com/einsteins-experimental-elevator/
I am claustrophobic in many instances. But the only time an elevator bothers me if there are more than myself and three or so other people inside. Much has to do with the size of the elevator and way it is made. All glass elevators- eek, i do not want to look going up or down- makes me a tad dizzy. Now if it starts making noises and or stops- um, i may inclined to claw my way out after a few minutes.
Haha...yeah, Ive been on elevators with people and all of a sudden it does something unexpected and everyone looks at each other like oh oh...kind of the same looks you get on an airplane going through some rough turbulence.
Even if I fantasized about being able to use a weapon to defend myself, which I don't, I would hope that the occasion wouldn't be in an elevator, and I suppose I would also hope that I had my handgun with me rather than the shotgun.
I picture that scene with me waiting in the lobby and the elevator doors open and everyone is dead. I'm gruesome sometimes. An elevator shootout!