After 44 Years of Up and Down, Elevator Operator Moves On

__

Forty-four years ago, Charlie Patterson started a new job on the ground floor. And when he retired from that job last week, that's exactly where he got off, too.

Since 1964, Charlie has been an elevator operator at the Ring Building at 18th and M streets NW, one of the last buildings in town where a uniformed operator whisks you to and from your floor.

"People, when they come in, they're amazed when they see operators," Charlie, 65, told me Tuesday, his second-to-last day. "It's a throwback to the old days. Sometimes they come in and say, 'Wow, you have your ups and downs, don't you?' I tell 'em, 'Yeah, it's like the stock market: down today and up tomorrow.' It's all in fun. If I didn't like the job, I wouldn't be here that long."

Forty-four years. In that time, we've gotten used to doing for ourselves things others once did for us: pumping our gas, bagging our groceries, ringing up our groceries, operating our elevators.

"I guess you could call it a dying breed now," Charlie said as we stood in one of the elevators that have served as his office since he was 21. His brothers James and Joe worked in the Ring Building when he started, too, all three of them moving to the District from Greenwood, S.C. Charlie trained for five days and then took his elevator operator's exam down at the District Building. He keeps his elevator operator's license -- No. 068735 -- in his wallet.

His first shift was 4 p.m. to midnight. The building is open round-the-clock, so there's always an elevator operator on duty. Since 1974, Charlie has supervised the crew of 10 or so elevator operators. The newest recruit is Cleveland Johnson, 42, the man Charlie trained as his replacement.

The job is straightforward. A little stool folds out from one wall, but Charlie always preferred to stand. "This is my control handle right here," he explained, grabbing a silver knob that sprouted from below the floor buttons. He spun it and the mirrored doors slid shut. "All we do is close the doors to get the elevator rolling. Then it's on its own." We glided silently upward.

Forty-four years. Did you ever get bored, I asked, or lonely?

Never, he said. "I don't have time to get lonely. There's always somebody to talk to." There are four other elevators, each with its own operator. "What we do is, we chitchat back and forth, talking until we see a light come on."

Work in a building 44 years and you know its rhythms and its cast of characters. The lawyers on one floor, the environmental lobbyists on another. The daily arrival of the UPS man and the FedEx man. The occasional celebrity.

"I have had a few," Charlie said. "I had Charley Pride, country singer; Larry Brown, former running back for the Washington Redskins; Pete Wysocki, Redskins . . ."

What does it take to be an elevator operator? "Oh, you have to have a nice personality," Charlie said.