Tourist Locked in London Store Sends Desperate Twitter SOS

Image via David Willis

Sometimes we feel shut out, forgotten, cast aside from the rest of society frolicking outside. Well, that was literally the case for an American tourist who was locked in Trafalgar Square’s Waterstones for two hours on Thursday evening.

Like Tom Hanks on a deserted island or crew of a sinking ship sending out an SOS, David Willis, visiting London from Dallas, Texas, sent out his own plea for help in tweet form.

This is how it all played out thanks to a man who dealt with happenstance like a champ: 

This is me locked inside a waterstones bookstore in London. I was upstairs for 15 minutes and came… http://t.co/EefA1antuG

— David Willis (@DWill_) October 16, 2014

Hi @Waterstones I've been locked inside of your Trafalgar Square bookstore for 2 hours now. Please let me out.

— David Willis (@DWill_) October 16, 2014

I'm free

— David Willis (@DWill_) October 16, 2014

Waterstones tweeted in kind:

We're pleased to announce that @DWill_ is a free man once more. Thanks for your concern and tweets!

— Waterstones (@Waterstones) October 16, 2014

Willis retweeted what might be a text exchange as well:

How it all began: The initial panic. @Waterstones @DWill_ #freethewaterstones1 #waterstonestexan pic.twitter.com/UTzV9Y5HRM

— Amy Mac (@Ames_Mac) October 17, 2014

It’s like a beautiful mix of Home Alone, Career Opportunities and An American Werewolf in London, minus the hi-jinx, Jennifer Connelly and, you know, werewolves.

Willis—now a liberated man who can live his life free of the shackles of a retail bookstore with multiple floors of product—spoke with NBC News: “I’m very tired, I did not sleep very much last night but it feels good to be free.”

Willis continued, explaining he was befuddled as how workers could have missed him: “I don’t know, that’s a great question… I walked in right past employees.”

As NBC News reports, Willis triggered an alarm and called police. In the end, it was his desperate tweets for help that did the trick.

Poor Willis just wanted to sip softly from the store’s pool of free Wi-fi. In the end, he had an ordeal that some tourists would pay good money to experience.

The obvious takeaway from the story is that one should always shout, “I’m still here!” every two minutes when shopping anywhere near closing time. Sure, people may look at you funny, but it will save you two hours locked in a store full of books and free Wi-fi, which sounds far better than most hostels, actually.

Twitter, it's for lost souls:

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