My Personal Elevator Everest
Let’s be honest, elevators are weird. They’re these metal boxes that transport us through the bowels of buildings, crammed with strangers we avoid eye contact with at all costs. And yet, there’s this invisible rulebook we’re all apparently handed at birth dictating how to navigate this 30-second journey without causing a social faux pas.
Take, for instance, my latest elevator adventure. Picture this: I’m running late for a meeting (shocker, I know), coffee sloshing precariously in hand. I make it just as the doors are closing, flinging myself in with a breathless, “Hold the door!” Everyone stares. My triumphant grin falters. The weight of their judgment (or maybe it was just the awkward silence) felt heavier than my overflowing inbox.
The Silent Treatment: An Elevator Etiquette Faux Pas?
Rule number one of Elevator Club: Thou shalt not speak. Apparently, engaging in conversation within the confines of an elevator is a social sin worthy of banishment to the basement (which, ironically, is where the elevator would probably take you anyway).
Listen, I get it. We’re all tired, rushing to important meetings, or just trying to mentally prepare for whatever fresh hell awaits on the next floor. But can we at least acknowledge each other’s existence with a polite nod or a “Good morning”? Anything but the deafening silence that currently reigns supreme.
Elevator Button Etiquette: To Press or Not to Press?
Ah, the age-old question: Do you press the button for someone else, even if it means stretching your arm across their personal space bubble? Or do you just stand there awkwardly while they struggle to reach?
Here’s my take: if you see someone struggling, offer to help! It’s a simple act of kindness that won’t result in you spontaneously combusting (probably). And if someone offers to press the button for you, accept their chivalry with grace. Unless they’re pressing all the buttons. Then run.
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