I noticed on several recent hotel stays a curious observation...especially for leisure guests...

As you are are moving up or down a high-rise hotel elevator, at each stop along the way, the door slides open and the people waiting to get on freeze and stare at the open car before reluctantly getting in.

The car is not full, and the few people on it already do not have knives and bloody clothes.

So what is it? Are they unsure of their decision to go up versus down? Have they never seen inside an elevator (maybe they've always used stairs in the past)?

Has anyone else ever noticed this?

Or maybe they are just being polite and waiting a second or two to make sure no one is getting off the elevator before they board?

That

+1 This is what I practice. I certainly don't want to pounce once the doors open up and collide with someone trying to exit. Most elevator doors are of a size that allow only egress or ingress at any given moment, not both.

The irresistible response: have you? In the elevators I'm familiar with. you can't see someone who's standing in a front corner (i.e. against the buttons), or a short person stuck behind a row of tall people, who may take a few extra seconds to step out.

Agree with the above. I always step to the side and see if anyone is making their way out before heading in.

Agree with all of the above. It's just the polite thing to do to wait a couple of seconds to ensure everyone who is disembarking has disembarked, as opposed to shoving your way in.

MY pet peeve is people who linger at the top or foot of escalators, gazing about in wonder, as other passengers pile up behind them.

This seems to be part of a general phenomenon - as soon as a decision must be made, stop and think about it. Unfortunately, the places where decisions must be made include the ends of escalators, after passing though narrow doors into corridors where it is possible to go right or left, etc. The notion of pulling off to the side while thinking about what one should do next - I guess expecting people to do that makes me a DYKWIA in the language of this board.

People who barrel onto elevators without waiting for passengers to exit and those who stop at the top/bottom of escalator drive me nuts. Assuming they seem to be healthy and able bodied, I don't hesitate to bump against them with a loud "excuse me."

+1

+1

Subways are even worse, IMHO, because people are rushing to get a seat.

This, I should think. The people waiting to get in to the lift won't know whether anyone will be getting out until the doors have opened fully and a second or two have elapsed.

It also takes a second or two to ascertain if there is indeed room.

And also, it is probably a normal, subconscious reaction for someone who is getting into an enclosed space when there are a whole lot of strangers already in that space to size up the situation quickly before jumping in...

+1.

Also, people who stop just beyond doors or entrances in any public space (including at railway stations, especially underground ones).

Or worse--I'm thinking of a supermarket in Shanghai.

There's an inclined slidewalk/escalator that ones takes to get out. (One also takes one to get in but that's not the problem.) Beside the bottom of the slidewalk is a little booth that sells hot corn on the cob. Every so often some elderly idiots stop to buy corn while standing on the flat metal at the very end of the slidewalk.

Now, there's normally enough space one could squeeze past these morons but the problem is shopping carts. The carts & slidewalk are designed so the carts can safely be taken on it--if they're straight they won't move, period, if they're not straight they'll move to the edge and then stop.

Not only do they not leave enough space for a cart to squeeze past but the locking action makes it impossible to move the cart sideways other than by picking it up. One can see the problem but be helpless to avoid running into them.

Also people who stop at doorways/intersections to chat with each other.

People who stand RIGHT at the elevator door, ready to walk in. I (sometimes, not often actually) like to stand RIGHT at the elevator door to get out. Always an amusing situation