So I want to cut off a toe...

I've got an idea for a macabre short story which involves a group of people stuck in an elevator.
One of these people is a nurse/paramedic (that's flexible) and eventually he is going to cut off the smallest toe of another person in the elevator. The person who is getting their toe cut off is submitting to it willingly.

So, my questions: how difficult would this be, in terms of physical strength? Would it essentially be the same as cutting joints of chicken?
If the cutter knows where the bone joints are and has a sharp knife is it going to be relatively quick? Would stuffing a shirt against the wound be enough to staunch it? How much blood would there be?
From what I've heard it's not that great an idea to cauterise a wound (because of infection, greater damage, etc) does that apply in the case of amputations "in the field" so to speak? And if cauterisation could be justified to stop bleeding, would a cigarette lighter be able to handle it? (I'm guessing probably not)
Would the pain be unbearable, for an average office worker who has never before suffered more than a stubbed toe? Anything to compare it to?

That's all I can think of right now. Thanks very much in advance for your help!

There's some great info so far, thank you!
I think I'd better expand a little on the idea. It's supposed to be kind of a psychological horror. It's quite gross and involves cannibalism, so consider this a warning.


It's three people stuck in an elevator and one of them has a condition where they need to eat all the time just to stay alive (like this girl).
She's going out with the nurse. They get stuck in the elevator with an office drone kind of guy. She runs out of food. They are all wearing synthetic clothes. No one has an extra stash of twinkies handy.

See where I'm going with this? Now, I know I'm pushing plausibility here to some extent, but I'm going to try and leave it somewhat ambiguous as to whether the girl is actually that sick, whether the nurse is all together stable and so forth.

I picked the little toe because I've heard it's fairly vestigial and I'm guessing Mr Drone has heard that too.
Mostly, I want to see if I can get one character to convince another character to cut off a body part to save the life of a third. To some extent it's a bit of a homage to Roald Dahl.

The nurse doesn't really have any equipment on him, only a pen knife (and possibly a rubber band and a lighter). But he's going to be (acting?) desperate by the time he manages to convince Mr Drone to go through with it. He won't be trying for best practice. So....

How long would it take to make the part go numb with a rubber band? Is there any point to doing that if you are planning to just cut the whole thing off at the base?
Would the toe actually be of any use to the girl with the condition? In the article it says that girl has to eat a lot of carbs and fat but I'm assuming protein could be OK as well (it does mention she eats chicken). To some extent it doesn't matter, as I just need Mr Drone to think it would be of use to her.

Also... would it be more plausible for Mr Drone to have a chunk of fat taken from somewhere else for her to eat? I know cutting off the toe involves cutting bone, and that's upping the stakes a lot.

Do you think an ordinary person would prefer to have a chunk cut out of their..., say the fat of their arm, or a toe cut off?
And if Mr Drone is really skinny, would that be possible? If a big patch of skin was cut off his arm (or somewhere else) would he bleed more or less than if a little toe was cut off?

Sorry about so many questions. I'm more interested in the persuasion and the atmosphere in the elevator than the details of the actual bits that get removed, so I'm, uh, not attached to the toe. I'd rather it made (a strange, terrible kind of) sense.
I'm also open to you guys telling me it's a completely dumb idea

Some wonderful information and ideas here. I'm really going to have to think hard to get around the blood letting idea (which doesn't sound nearly as difficult to talk someone into, you're right!).
Thank you all so much for helping me out with this and giving me several different aspects to think about.