I like how escalators gracefully degrade to stairs, and electric toothbrushes to regular toothbrushes. That a smart fridge can't act as a dumb fridge is absolutely ridiculous.
If you have an option of regular stairs or stalled escalators, use the stairs.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=krXj69fJjgA
If the brakes aren't operating properly the stairs could start moving uncontrollably.
But the thing is, you don't know what it's state is, and it's clearly not in the "everything is OK" state. At least if it's running you can guess the operator is intending for you to use it.