“A lift is a compartment housed in a shaft for raising or lowering people to different levels”
I bet you that you have been in a lift and reached the ground floor, the lift door opens and instead of being able to walk out into freedom and the outdoors, a scrum of over eager (and usually Gen Y) employees pile into the lift as soon as they can get their bodies through the opening doors.
Often, they are front and centre with their noses about 2 centimetres away from yours when the door opens. It’s like when the French rugby team stared down the All Black’s Haka in the world cup.
They look startled when it dawns on them that the lift that was going from the upper levels of the building (which is full of people), actually was transporting real people in it. Funny that, a functional lift with people in it!
They almost look confused as to what to do next, which should be:
“Oh, I am sorry, I stupidly thought there was no one in this lift and I apologise, I will now retreat and afford you the courtesy of actually departing the lift as it is your lift until you are out of it”.
They don’t though, do they? They almost look at you as if you have done something wrong, like you have deliberately caused them a delay in their busy life as they take their eyes momentarily off their Iphones and figure out what to do next. They usually go “whoa” or “ohh” and begrudgingly take a step back.
Some of them don’t and actually have the audacity to walk in before you have had the chance to leave the lift, creating a tense group of people at different ends of their lift journey. I’ve nearly gone on a return trip!
Expecting a lift that has descended to the ground floor not to have people in it, at lunchtime (or any time during business hours), is basically pretty stupid and self centred.
Are these people also shocked when they get to their office and walk into a meeting room with people in it or is it a surprise to them when they get on a bus and there are other passengers on it as well. Why is a lift any different?
Rushing in to a lift just as the doors open is also pretty pointless as the lift doesn’t just take off once you get your scrawny body through the opening doors.
There is a delay anyway for other people to walk into the lift (and yes, unfortunately you do have to wait for people to actually get out of the lift), for buttons to be pushed and for the doors to actually close.
Simple solution, have some patience and respect and do the following:
Don’t assume every lift is empty and “it is your lift only”
Wait for the doors to open
Wait for all the people in the lift to actually walk out of the lift so it is empty
When the lift is empty, walk in, press your button and wait for the magic to happen.
Pretty basic stuff eh?, but just wait until the next time you are in a lift and see what happens. It is an epidemic and it is getting worse.
The campaign will continue.