Why do these things always happen to me?

So I had a crazy time at the mall today - the kids were begging me to let them go on the escalator - so I agreed -once up and once down. Well, I was carrying David and holding Cadie's hand so I told Libby to hold onto my jacket and we counted "1-2-3 step" and we all stepped on and rode up. We got to the top and counted "1-2-3 step" and Cadie and I stepped down - Libby got scared and stayed up. I could not coax her down and I couldn't put David down as he would run away so I convinced Cadie to stay at the bottom while I went up to get Libby - well, I got half way up and realized Cadie was following me up. Then they were both at the top scared to go down on their own. So I held Libby's hand and brought her down and left Cadie at the top. I told Libby stay at the bottom and went up to get Cadie but half way up saw her happily holding onto a stranger's hand coming down so I got to the top and rushed down as fast as I could, not realizing Libby had followed me up and was now stuck at the top again. Seriously. Thank goodness the stranger was kind and stayed with Cadie while I went back up ---and down again. And then they had the gall to tell me they meant "elevator -not escalator."