Pushing Buttons

I was just talking about this with a friend of mine…

Is it just me? Or are elevator experiences different between the East Coast and West Coast. I’ve personally observed that WC elevator riders might be more considerate than EC elevator riders. Consider the following:

WC Scenario:
Most of the time, when you get on an elevator and there is already somebody standing by the floor buttons…What do they do????? They OFFER to push the button to your floor for you! “What floor?” …”five…uh thanks!” “No problem!”

Now there are occasions when the person standing by the buttons is not really in a position to offer because there are multiple individuals entering at the same time. In such cases, you just make a public request for somebody to push the button to your desired floor. Done! No worries!


EC Scenario:
Now this is where it gets interesting… Here, when you get on the elevator, the person standing by the button pad has already pressed his floor, and either stares at the ground or at the wall, refusing to make eye contact with anyone entering the elevator. When somebody enters, they simply maneuver their arm between the person standing by the buttons and the button pad and press their floor (all the while aware that people are entering behind them). Then this person tries to make their way to the back of the elevator.

Now in the mean time, someone who has just stepped on, and snuggled him/herself in a nice little corner remembers that s/he has not pressed their floor button so then they peek to see if their button is illuminated. If it’s not, instead of making a polite public request (God forbid they talk to strangers!) they nudge, dodge, and gently wrestle their way through all the people in the elevator and make their way to the button pad. But that same guy is standing there staring at the wall, and this person who has just made all that effort to get this close to the buttons still refuses to consider a simple whisper ‘Sir. Would you please press # 14?”...... and relinquish the opportunity to press the button for themselves? NEVER!


I think that buttons are irresistible to many people. Kind of like bubble wrap….once you get a hold of some you always want to pop it. (I personally like the wrap with the really small bubbles).

Like my friend was saying last night…even when people see that the button (elevator, traffic light, etc.) is illuminated or has already been pressed….they push it. And sometimes they hold it down as if that will expedite things! I mean, I’m sure we’ve all seen it turn into a serious obsession and preoccupation!

It’s like we feel so awkward when we are placed in a situation where we have to stand with strangers….so we automatically find something external to focus our attention on…A book, ipod, newspaper, fingernails, walls, floors, windows, and of course….Buttons!