New York City -- Nicholas White was at his office late Friday night when, after a smoking break, he got in the elevator and headed back to his office.

All of a sudden, the elevator jolted and then stopped. Realizing it was stuck, he pressed the intercom...but no response. With no cell phone to call for help, he began pacing, then decided to hit the emergency button. It went off, but it wasn't very loud.

Nicholas White, trapped in elevator: "After a certain period of time, I knew that I was in pretty big trouble because it was the weekend."

Sure enough, no one came to his rescue. With the alarm still ringing, he thought it might overheat and start a fire. He tried to stay calm, lying down in the cramped space.

Amazingly, his plight could be seen in the building's security cameras, but none of the guards noticed. By now, White was hungry and thirsty. In his pockets were only anti-acid tablets.

White: "Rolaids are not a good meal, but the water part is what bugged me the most."

In desperation, White pried open the door, only to be faced with a cinder block wall, just inches away. He tried to get to the emergency hatch on top, but it was locked.

For hours, he drifted in and out of sleep, wondering if it was all a bad dream. His nightmare finally ended, Sunday morning, when building security called him on the intercom.

White: "Why am I there? Did I work there? Which was a conversation that began to annoy me, you know, please just get me out of here."

He was rescued at 4:00 p.m., on Sunday, 41 hours after his terrifying ordeal began. Oh, as you can see in the video, the elevator was finally put out of service.