Today is day two of my examination of my pet peeves of elevator etiquette. This installment is called:
Pet Peeve #2: What Are You People Doing On My Elevator?
As I did yesterday, I am providing a handy-dandy graphic to illustrate what I'm going to talk about.
The left side of the graphic represents the interior of the elevator. There are four people in the elevator. Notice no one is right up against either of the button panels. Someone read yesterday's blog post? Good for you!
The right side of the image represents someone waiting to get on the elevator. Therein lies the source of today's elevator pet peeve.
Notice how close this person is to the elevator door. This will not be a problem if this person is waiting on a floor where none of the current occupants of the elevator car intend to disembark. But what if the elevator arrives on a floor where some or all of the current passengers do want to exit. Perhaps the group is a family, the Blue family: Mr. Blue, Mrs. Blue, Dolly Blue and Skip Blue. The Blue family needs to stick together.
The problem here is that big old Mr. Green (who has put on weight since yesterday's post) is standing right in the way when the doors open. It's as if Mr. Green has the temerity to think the elevator is coming for him and only for him. Who are these riffraff ruffians who dare have the affrontery to ride uponst his vertical transport device?
Conventional wisdom is that people on a elevator need to get off before other people get on. And its conventional wisdom that actually makes sense. Does it make sense for Mr. Green to get on the elevator first and then have the Blue family squirm around him to leave the elevator? No. The Blue family exits and Mr. Green enters. It's efficient and it's civilized.
SO WHY THE HELL DON'T PEOPLE DO THAT?!?!
Ahem! Sorry.
To be fair, most people understand this process but what bothers me most is not that some people don't understand it but they seem put off by it. If I nearly collide with someone who was standing right at the doors impeding my exit so they can come in, how is that my fault? Oh, I will apologize because I try to be a good person but it irks me to no end. What is going through the head of a person waiting for an elevator when they're standing so close to the doors?
So today's lesson is allow some room from the elevator door and let anyone exit who wishes to do so then take your turn to enter.
Thank you.
Tomorrow's blog post looks at today's pet peeve from another angle.
Until then, be good to one another. Also be efficient and civilized; those are good things too.
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