Adjusting to retirement has not been easy for Mr. O'Connell , after a career that included the peculiar -LRB- Elton John popping out of an elevator wearing a construction boot on one foot and a sneaker on the other -RRB- and the stressful -LRB- directing traffic in the lobby while Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru of India entertained Nikita Khrushchev , the Soviet premier , and Prime Minister Castro of Cuba in the second-floor dining room -RRB- .