rickg523

Waaaay overthinking this. How do you ever get anything done?

noodlenoggin

This! I stayed at a particular hotel for over a year, and the call-light would go out about 10sec before the doors would open. Invariably, the light would go out...someone would walk up, look at me and press the button. We'd get on the elevator and I'd say some version of "I pushed the button, it goes out before the thing opens." trans: I'm not an idiot.

MaldivesFreak

Wow. If I had stayed there for that long I think would've made a sign saying "Call-Light goes out 10s before doors open" and stuck it near the buttons. Either that or got the maintenance team to adjust the timeout down to zero.

Jesperss

tjl

Related elevator annoyance: buildings that do not let you use the stairs to go up, even though going up one or two floors of stairs takes less time than waiting for the elevators. If people who only need to go up one or two floors took the stairs, that would make it faster for them, and faster for everyone else who would not have to wait for the elevator to stop on as many floors.

CEB

Actually, the worst one's IMHO are those folks who, whether it be elevator, escalator, airplane, whatever, step out/off and stop! They block everyone else who is leaving whatever mode involved and jam things up for everyone just because they have no clue where to go or what to do at that point. I literally always move as far from the exit as quickly as possible and then step to the side to load things on my bag, figure out which direction i need to go, etc. Not sure why so many folks think they need to block the exits to figure out what they should do!

simons1

#1 is very common at transportation locations, Gatwick rail station, Dubai metro etc.

Stupid people crowding the doors trying to push on before others get off. At times like that I find having a hard suitcase helpful, as it forces people to shift or get clobbered.

darthbimmer

Years ago I heard and internalized the phrase, "Up one, down two." As in, take the stairs if you're going up just one level or down only two. I don't apply that rule when carrying heavy or bulky objects, or when injured, but aside from that I try to. It's for both health and efficiency. But I've been flummoxed in several hotels when I've tried to use the stairs to descend 1-2 floors and found that the doors are all locked... all the way down to the ground floor, where sometimes the exit from the stairwell is not to the lobby but to the outside, next to the trash bins or something like that.

t325

If someone told me that, I'd stop at the second floor and take the stairs down to the ground floor.

Maxwell Smart

In the US federal govt building where I worked in the 80's, a sign stating exactly that was posted next to the elevators.

The stairs were also located right at the elevator bank, and the stairwell was wide to accommodate a lot of traffic, so it was in constant use.

synthkeys

A few have remarked about China and Hong Kong. I'm in China a lot, and ride elevators multiple times a day. This is the single biggest thing that bugs the [redacted] out of me over there. At least in the Shenzhen metro, there seems to be some sort of half [redacted] idea about letting people off first, but people usually lose their patience quickly and start entering the car before everyone has gotten off. But in the elevators its every man for himself. I see people waiting for the elevators, standing right in front of the door causing so many bottlenecks with people getting off. They don't realize that it would actually be quicker and easier to let everyone off first. But it's just the culture and I can't change it. But I do sometimes act out passive aggressively, taking a wide stance as I exit not caring whether someone gets bumped. But then I end up being the one who's rude.

Another elevator etiquette rule, talking on the cell phone. When I'm in the states, generally people don't talk on the phone while in the elevator, or if they do, keep the conversation quiet or quickly end the call. In China, everyones ringtone is super loud and they have no voicemail, so every call gets answered. And of course if the elevator is crowded they just yell at the top of their lungs. Screaming in someones ear is not considered inappropriate, because after all they have a phone call. Every super load ringtone is answered by an equally loud "Wei". Sometimes if I'm super fed-up, while someone is shouting on the phone in the elevator (only if I'm alone with the shouter), I pull out my phone and pretend to answer a call and start yelling in English -- "What? I can't hear you? Someone is talking real loud!" Yeah, super passive aggressive, but the rudeness just kills me some times.

Saint4805

I actually forgot scenario #4 and it's a gem.

Standing on my floor having pressed the down button and waiting for the lift to arrive. There is no light behind the buttons but there is display above the lift door which shows that it's on it's way. Some guy walks up and waits along side me. Seems that the arriving lift is direction neutral (can go either up or down depending on which floor button is pressed first). As mentioned in the OP I like to stand back from the door in order to leave space for anyone in the lift who would like to get out. When the door opens this guy (now marching purposefully towards DYKWIA status) darts in and presses the button to the top floor knowing full well that I had been waiting longer then him and that it was me who requested the lift to come to our floor. Absolutely no intention of letting me make my choice first meaning that I had to escort him to his chosen floor before going all the way back down with a few floor stops along the way.

milepig

tjl

Or that exit is an alarmed one that they want to be used only in case of fire...

DragonSoul

Ingrate! You should be bowing down and showing your gratitude to the Chinese for inventing the mobile phone - specifically Deng Xiaoping, who invented mobile phones so people living in remote towns and villages could contact their families who moved to the cities. Don't you know?!?!