I work in Facilities for an agency of the provincial government. When we had some staff stuck in an elevator (a passenger elevator, mind you) several weeks back it took about 45 minutes to get them out. They hit the button for an emergency, they got in touch with Security at the front desk, who in turn contacted building operations, who called in an elevator technician (the base building contractor). They were above ground, so very very shortly I was getting emails from the people stuck in the elevator and their manager, who were frantic to get me to solve the problem immediately. So I in turn called the property management company's contact, both his landline and his cell, while also emailing my boss and her boss to inform them of the situation. I also, because we're the government, had to contact the Facility Manager for CBRE, so he got on the case and called the building operator. We all knew what was going on, partially because we were emailing each other and calling each other and demanding and providing updates every damn five minutes - but nobody else knew. Other tenants didn't know because the building didn't put out an email notice to tenants saying one elevator was out of service because there was a technician racing to get it open. If the situation had lasted longer than it did, maybe that would have happened. There was a pregnant woman in the elevator with my colleagues, who got a little ill, but ultimately turned out ok once the doors were opened and they were able to get out. Now, in the building I work in (not the same building), our freight elevator goes to the basement and there is no calling out on your phone from there. However, I've noticed that in places in our basement where I get no service on my android, I'm still able to send BBM's to people on my govt blackberry. So I don't know, on balance this sounds legit to me.