We have 2 elevators in the building where our office is, which are controlled by a central dispatch pad located on each floor. A very typical setting nowadays ..... I know ...... nothing out-of-the-world about this ..... I know ..... but given the number of people using elevators thus described ..... why do they commit the same *stupid* mistakes ..... I do NOT know !!!!
Seriously, everyday, I come across at least one person, who commits at least one of these. And if you have the time and the patience, do observe that person carefully (well, maybe not too carefully, if it were a lady, she might just slap you), it could also tell you quite a bit about the personality.
So ..... you are inside the elevator (going up or down doesn't make a difference), and you reach your floor. The doors open, and this horde of people just starts barging in !!! I mean, take a look around people, you have the entire corridor to yourselves (how many ever you might be), and there's not more than 6 or 7 of us inside this cubicle of 5' x 5' !! Not only that, but most of the times, some of us are wanting to alight, which is going to make SPACE FOR YOU to come in !!!!! Can you not hold on for a couple of seconds ?? Take a cue from the local train commuters in Mumbai ..... :-)
Why do people think that they are so important, that they should TELL the elevator, where it should be going ? So ..... a person, who has to travel to the ground floor, is standing on floor 3 (lets say, of a 6 storey building). Both the elevators are at some floor below him, and SO, this person presses the UP key. And this is because he feels that the lift should be coming UP, in order to pick him up, and take him to his destination !! Dude, you should not be telling the lift where IT should go, you should be telling it where YOU want to go !! Is this asking too much, is this not common-sense ? Do you tell a shopkeeper what HE should be selling, or do you tell him what YOU want to buy ???
And then, there are those people, who feel that they are so smart, that only when their divine fingers touch the keypad, will the elevator move, and all those stranded on this floor would be saved !! So ..... you are on the lowest floor (parking or ground or whatever), meaning everybody HAS to travel up. Somebody has already pressed the UP button, very clearly advertised by the red indicator light. In spite of this, this person walks up, rather impatiently, and purposefully pushes the same button far into the wall, and that too a number of times !! My good man, we still do not have finger-print recognition on the elevator control pads, in buildings with IT offices (which is a lot of buildings), in India, for you pressing the key to make a difference. Or do you just want to show off in front of the well-dressed female (standing alongside me, though not with me), that you have something very important awaiting you upstairs (which is incidentally not important enough for him to take the steps :-)) ??
Obviously, you also get to see a combination of these categories, and mark my words, it DOES tell you a lot about the personalities. Let me not get into HOW for now, because I am still in the process of evolving my theorems in this context :-).
To end, all I can do, is empathise with the poor lift-man (who casts knowing, help-less glances at me and my like, especially when his elevator stops mid-way for no apparent reason, and the other patrons look at him rather accusingly), and appeal to the above described category of people as:
"My dear people using elevators, please also use your brains too once in a while!!"
A related and very interesting article here.
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