"Most of us sort of shut down.
"We walk in. We press the button. We stand perfectly still."
Taking the lift could be the least memorable part of your journey to work, but Dr Lee Gray of the University of North Carolina at Charlotte has made it his business to scrutinise this overlooked form of public transportation. People refer to him as "the Elevator Guy".
"The lift becomes this interesting social space where etiquette is sort of odd," he explains. "They are socially very interesting but often very awkward places."
Conversations that have been struck up in the lobby tend to be extinguished quite quickly in the thick atmosphere of the office elevator. We walk in and usually turn around to face the door.
If someone else comes in, we may have to move. And here, it has been observed that lift-travellers unthinkingly go through a set pattern of movements, as predetermined as a square dance.
On your own, you can do whatever you want - it's your own little box.
If there are two of you, you take different corners. Standing diagonally across from each other creates the greatest distance.
When a third person enters, you will unconsciously form a triangle (breaking the analogy that some have made with dots on a dice). And when there is a fourth person it's a square, with someone in every corner. A fifth person is probably going to have to stand in the middle.
Now we are in uncharted territory. New entrants to the lift will need to size up the situation when the doors slide open and then act decisively. Once in, for most people the protocol is simple - look down, or examine your phone.
Why are we so awkward in lifts?
"You don't have enough space," says Professor Babette Renneberg, a clinical psychologist at the Free University of Berlin.
"Usually when we meet other people we have about an arm's length of distance between us. And that's not possible in most elevators, so it's a very unusual setting. It's unnatural."
In such a small, enclosed space it becomes vital, she says, to act in a way that cannot be construed as threatening, odd or in any way ambiguous. The easiest way to do this is to avoid eye-contact.
But perhaps there is more to it than just social awkwardness.
"In the back of our minds we are a little anxious," says Nick White, an office worker in New York who was unfortunate enough to be trapped in a lift for 41 hours.
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| Nick White was trapped in a lift in his office building for 41 hours. |
"We don't like to be locked into a place. We want to get out of the elevator as soon as possible, because, you know, it's a creepy place to be."
During his ordeal, he began to think of another enclosed space that lurks at the back of our minds - a tomb.
It would be understandable if White refused ever to step in a lift again. But if you work in a city built on a vertical plane, and if you have aspirations above being a receptionist, that isn't an option.
"I certainly remember what happened to me every time I go in one," he admits. "It's part of the commute, the part you have the least control over."
Elevator Guy Lee Gray agrees that a sense of disempowerment is the main cause of lift anxiety.
"You're in a machine that's moving, over which you have no control. You cannot see the elevator engine, you don't know how it's working," he says.
This sense of passivity in the hands of a machine may become more pronounced as we enter the age of buttonless "smart" elevators.
After swiping through security or touching a central control panel, travellers are directed to a lift that has been programmed to stop at their floor, removing the need for any further commands. The system is designed to cut down on unnecessary stops, but although more efficient, some people find the experience unnerving.
Regardless of the qualms and anxieties associated with lifts, Gray is adamant that they are safer than cars - and significantly safer than escalators.
"It is in in fact of one of the safest forms of transportation, if you look at the billions of miles that lifts travel every year and the very, very small number of accidents."
We all know this, which is why we continue to take lifts every day, despite our anxieties.
"We have learned that we can take an elevator and it is safe to do so," says Renneberg. "So in a way it's a triumph of rationalism over our more animalistic instincts."
This pleasing thought - that we become more sophisticated by travelling in lifts - is perhaps one to ponder next time you get in one.
Just don't, whatever you do, start a conversation about it.
Taken from the BBC HERE.
There is a BBC podcast about this HERE.
Have you ever watch the 500 days of summer,which is starred by Zooey Deschanel and Joseph Gordon-Levitt? At the beginning of the film there was a moment where these people are in the lift together. Summer Finn(Zooey) was trying to talk to Tom Hansen(Levitt) while he were listening to his headset. Zooey said that she loves The Smiths. Then,they started to talk to each others. After reading this article I just realized that this is only happened in a movie. Well I don't really pay attention to people behavior in lift. I just known that we start to stop talking when we're in a lift. I have to reasons why do people behave so oddly in a lift. Most of people stop talking in a lift is because they are not comfortable to talk in a lift. Lift is a small size room. So the others will be easily to listen to your conversation. The second is may be because of the little time you take in a lift. It may cause you don't want to talk anything.
ReplyDeleteI watch that film too, the first thing that come to my mind when i read this article is "500 days of summer" too.
DeleteAnd i agree about the reason that why people don't talk much in a lift is because the space is too narrow, and i would like to that in closed & narrow space you can make echo easily, so it will disturb other people, not only make them hear your conversation.
This is one of the hardest things to be expressed: the atmosphere in lifts. It’s such a longing for me to be confronted with this interesting article about odd behavior in lifts and found the reasons why. I often tell to my friends that I hate the atmosphere in lifts. I don’t even understand whether those reasons are within me. But then I think it is right. Space and fear of being trapped are the reasons why we behave oddly in lifts.
ReplyDeleteWhen I hang out with my friends, we often avoid using lift. Instead, we prefer to use escalator rather than being trapped in the space-less creepy moving machine: lift. On the top of that, I often do behave far more awkward than just stop talking. I stop breathing and face my head to the sky.
Is it perhaps because you and your friends are claustrophobic? If not then I don’t see the reason of being scared of hopping in an elevator. Using the escalator would consume more time whereas when using the elevator it would be much faster. Sometimes, the elevators are usually packed as well at shopping malls. However, it is much more fun to use the escalator, without actually knowing the reason. When going to department stores I do too prefer to use the escalator than the elevator. The fact that we can look around us and have a lot of breathing space is probably the most logical reason why we prefer to use the escalator.
DeleteThis article really attracts me to read! I and perhaps other people will never realize that we always do such an odd behavior in lifts till I reading this. Dr Lee Gray’s idea of scrutinizing the way we behave in lifts is fabulous. I mean, who else will think like that? I don’t think people are aware, they probably don’t realize that lifts or elevators are also public transportations. The funny part is our formation in lifts. As Dr Gray said, when there are two of us, we take different corners. When the third person enters, we unconsciously form a triangle. Yes, this is just so true and I notice it is unique.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, I agree that elevator is one of the safest transportations and can prevent accidents. But still, can you imagine when the lifts are in trouble and suddenly stopped? I think it makes our heart beat as fast as we are facing an accident. Being trapped in a small, closed, and creepy space is even worse.
This article is so interesting. I feel that way too , the situation in lifts can be the quietest situation in a place. Do I exaggerate ? No, I don't , because even when I'm with my friend in a lift we don't talk anything until we get to our destination floor. How could ? Does the lift bewitch us ? ( that's an exaggeration ) haha yea we just like don't care around us , we are just like being freezed at the moment. Precisely if we talk more in a lift , the other people in lift think that we are annoying, and if we're only with a stranger in a lift , it can be so awkward. I have heard so many horror stories in lifts, so I will never use lift at the night, in a big building, alone. I prefer to use escalator or just take the stairs which is good for our health. Because , lifts , the more sophisticated that thing , the more risk that it has.
ReplyDeleteBefore i read this article, i never realized even considered about what people behave in elevator. And when i read this, i just smile and continuously said “ wow, that’s so true” while i read this article till the end. It was so interesting where there was still person considered about this. The awkwardness in lifts cannot be avoided by people. If i was in lift alone, and suddenly people come in, the first thing i do is stare at his/her face, figure out how his/her appearances, and then i just look above or front and pretend nothing was happen. I cannot imagine how if there was two people and did not recognize each other, had in same elevator and going to 60th floor. When i was kid, i was really scared when came inside elevator. There was a lot of stories about people who died because get squeezed by lift’s door. So, if i came inside i always ran and take the first one who came inside elevators.
ReplyDeleteI do realize that people become awkward once they enter a lift. It's probably because we feel anxious when we're in a closed and small place. I always have feeling that I might be trapped in the lift whenever I use it. I feel less anxious when I'm in a lift together with my friends. I can have a conversation with my friends to decrease the anxiety. However, when someone we don't know enters the lift, we stop the conversation. I still don't understand why people behave like that even after reading this article. Maybe people don't like their conversation being overheard by others.
ReplyDeleteI agree that lift is a creepy place. I don't know why people said so, but I agree that it feels creepy. Even in horror films, lift is one of the creepy place to make a scene.
The best thing you can do in a lift is farting really loud. Happened one time when I was in the lift, not to me however. We were going from ground floor to the 9th floor in a big building. There were 4 people inside and in the 3rd floor an older man entered. He was maybe around 50 and as the doors closed, we just heard a fart noise. Really loud and in the beginning no one knew what that was. We were all busy handling our phones and then it started to smell so incredibly rotten and decayed. When we all realized what it was, it was even more awkward than before and for a moment I thought I was going to throw up inside the lift.
ReplyDeleteIt was probably the worst smell ever and when the lift stopped in the 9th floor, we all ran out of the elevator, the man surprisingly disappeared immediately and all the other people from the lift were now talking and laughing about that guy.
I have to say he was very brave though. It takes guts to perform a fart like this and not to move or show any reaction towards it. I hope he knows what a hero he is and if you are reading this, fart man, I wish you all the best for your future life.
Fart experience in a lift should gonna be your best experience. but someday might be you should take a part as well. you can try to fart there might be and try to act as normal as usual and see the people ractions. thats gonna be your best joke ever.thats the funny moment but i've a bad or bit scary experience in a lift with my friend. when we were go done at pertamina tower from 8 floor to frist floor at night around 8 pm. and almost all the floor already close. the door is suddenly open at 5 floor but when it was opened nobody there and the floor was dark and no light. semms already closed. but actually no one there and no one prees the 5 floor button. you should try that kind of experice might be. you cannot even missed it. but do it at night that can be more interesting than at noon. from 8 floor at 8 pm or more.
DeleteAdrian, I know this guy was you. I was in this lift as well and you told me afterwords. To describe it with the smell of rotten would not be enough. People died because of your fart.
DeleteThe etiquette in a lift is absolutely strange and contacts are considered to be uncomfortably narrow. I am quite a talkative person but as soon as I enter a lift I am quiet. This is not due to the fact that I am affraid of getting stuck. Maybe the statement about the unnatural closeness is the reason for it. Even when I am in a lift with my grandmother or any other close person our conversation usually stops for the period in which we are in the elevator and continues upon stepping outside. Strange! I feel terribly sorry for the man who got stuck in his office elevator for 41 hours, I guess he already had panic and some basic needs.
ReplyDeleteEverything about being on a lift is weird. I hate the atmosphere of being on a lift. It’s just so quite until you can hear your own heart beats. It could be worse when somebody else enters the lift; you just don’t know what to do. Like what the article has mentioned before, examining your mobile phone could be an alternative way of spending your time on a lift. And, I always do that. For me, getting out of a lift is like getting out of a jail. Every time I go for a walk in a mall, I always use an escalator instead of lift. Using escalator is a lot better because you can see things around. But, for a building like Al-Burj in Dubai, a super fast and sturdy lift is badly needed.
ReplyDeleteBefore reading this article, I've made some speculations why I hate being in a lift. I prefer using escalator and I'm more comfortable with lift that uses glass as its exterior. I'm a paranoid person, so one of the reasons I'm afraid to use lift is because I'm afraid ghosts will appear as soon as the door is closed. It's a silly reason but I'm still afraid. After reading this article, I realized that it has something to do with fear of being trapped and powerless, but I think people will keep using this machine because after all, why should we make things more complicated by taking stairs or something? People will always prefer using the most efficient machine. I don't know what will happen years after now, but I think I will always behave oddly in lifts.
ReplyDeleteI'm one of those people that act oddly on lift, being in a small place with bunch of people that i don't know, even if i'm going with my friends, it's always awkward when other stranger come in, I feel like we shouldn't have talk with each other on such a small place where everybody could hear us.
ReplyDeleteIt's also scary to go in a small lift that move slowly, it feels like the lift can stop anytime, well probably because i've seen too much scene like this in the movie, but still, i prefer escalator than lift.
I feel it too! I hate taking lifts alone. I usually put my earphones on and wait until the lift takes me to my floor. The only lift enjoy was when I was living in an apartment in Venezuela. People seem to be very friendly and every time they enter lift knowing someone is inside, they would say good morning or simply greet them and then they just talk. But it’s rare to find this kind of situation. It is more comfortable to take lift with someone else you know, so you don’t feel awkward. Furthermore I do agree that we give distance to people we don’t know. It’d be weird too if someone takes lift and stand right beside you when there’s a lot of room left in it.
ReplyDeleteI have once been trapped in lift. Mom told me to accompany her in a meeting, because later on we were going to do groceries. After the meeting was over, my mom told me to meet at the lobby. That time I had to take lift with mom’s colleagues. I don’t know whether it was too packed or not, but it suddenly stopped. Most awkward moment ever, I’d take stairs but it was from 16th floor.
When I’m alone in the lift with other strangers, I will constantly look at the small screen above the door to see the number of the floors since I want to go out from the lift as soon as possible as it’s very awkward to be in the small box with other people that you don’t know who they are. Same as Salsa, I think lift that uses glass as its exterior is more comfortable since we still can see the situation outside the lift and I feel a little bit safer rather than when I take lift that doesn’t use glass as the exterior. At the end I prefer using escalator since I don’t need to be in the awkward place for a moment and I feel safer on an escalator rather than in a lift.
ReplyDeleteThis article is really true! I tend to be more quite when I enter the lift. I don’t know why, but I think I should not talk too much inside the lift. The situation becomes worse when I enter the lift that is full of strangers. It feels like everyone in the lift is watching every single movement that I do. Entering this kind of lift with my friends will not help at all, because everyone in that lift can listen to our conversation. Besides, I feel pretty anxious when I enter the lift because I have ever seen a film (Final Destination, if I’m not mistaken) that had a really creepy scene about the lift. This scene showed that a man died because his head was nipped by the lift’s door and the lift kept moving down so his head was cut off from his body. This scene makes me really afraid whenever I enter the lift. Thus, I prefer using escalator to lift.
ReplyDelete-Sasha
I really agree to this article. When I am in the lift, especially with strangers, I unconsciously try to keep quiet and not even want to say a single word. I don't know what the reason is. But I feel it is a general custom everybody realizes and obeys in the lift. I can't say that it is a prohibition to talk in the lift, but it is just unusual to talk in the lift. I often play my cellphones when I am in the lift since there is nothing much to do. I don't like the feeling of being caged like a little bird in the lift. I want to get out from the lift as fast as possible. It's pretty amazing for me that Nick White can endure the creepiness while being trapped Inadvertently in the lift. If it had been me, I would have been, maybe, frustrated. Since the atmosphere is really frightening. All in all, I prefer using straits to using the lift because using stairs can make us healthier by forcing us using our feet to go down and go up.
ReplyDeleteEvery time I get onto lifts, I tend to check the upper part of the corner that has the command buttons. It's not like I expect to see anything there, it just can't be helped and I don't even know why. I actually didn't realize how weird the atmosphere in lifts is until I read this article. Come to think of it, it does feel awkward because I don't know what to do once I get on the lift. I think it feels even more uncomfortable in smaller lifts where you have to 'shrunk' yourself so that the other people could fit. But regardless the atmosphere, lifts indeed are the quickest option that can get you to the upper floor compared to stairs.
ReplyDeleteLift is one place which can make you creepy. Incidents in lift such as in the horror movies sometimes haunt our minds. I this it is right that lift have narrow space which makes us awkward every time we use it. We don’t like being too close with other people especially with stranger whom we usually share the lift with. We need personal space; we don’t like to be in narrow places so we tend to get further away from each other when we are in the lift.
ReplyDeleteThere are also some people with claustrophobia disease who are scared of narrow-space places. Those people can’t get going with lift. I think it’s better to make bigger lift with glass exterior so that people don’t think they are trapped in an iron moving box. I suddenly remember this book I’ve ever read, Charlie and The Great Glass Elevator. In this book there is a really big elevator with all glass exterior which can go anywhere, not only up and down but also forward and backward. I think it is really a dream comes true when we come to the era where this kind of thing exists.
I've been doing the exact same thing on elevator as the article states. I tend to create the greatest distance between the strangers and I. Before reading this article, I never realise my behaviour in lifts. The very next day after I read this article, I observe the people who get into the lift right after me, and he stand diagonally across from me and take the greatest distance. I think that it's the human nature since we all have our comfort distance from stranger. In a lift, we can't get our comfort distance very well.
ReplyDeletefor children, the experience of riding the elevator is exciting and fun for them. I was also so excited while riding the elevator when I was a kid. until one day my hands wedged in the elevator door, and ever since that incident happened I started to ride the elevator in the normal way. In my opinion, why do people behave oddly and lift up the current pattern is because when we are in a small, enclosed place, for a short time, and with people who are not necessarily familiar, things that we probably do is behave strangely because we are "trapped" in that abstract situation.
ReplyDeleteIt's clear that this has to do with the little personal space people got when standing in a lift. Small places and not having the freedom of stepping out whenever you want it can freak people out. So perhaps they just stand still, act strange and hope that it will be over as soon as possible. If you don't like the whole lift phenomenon, you should just try to take the stairs.
ReplyDeleteNew research is showing, however, that going for that doing stuff other than sitting (or riding the elevator) - in other words, getting ambulatory in some way - has other significant benefits for health than keeping a lean guy lean. Indeed, new studies are showing it's critical to get off our butts.
When I was doing my internship last year I even chose to go to the toilet one floor above my office, to just get some exercise during my 8-hour workday!
I think i agree with this article. I just feel awkward when i using elevator with strangers. It's like they will observing you thoroughly. Sometimes it's better to bring your friend to use the elevator. But still, the awkward situation is not just gone after all. Maybe the cramped space and some people which we don't know stand near us make our brain think "let's keep silent and don't do anything stupid".
ReplyDeleteWho wouldn’t fear being stuck in an elevator? I guess that’s why everyone avoids any kind of social interaction with one another while being in a lift. Everyone would just mind their own business and avoid any eye contact to let the elevator moment pass by quickly. The least I would do is smile at the stranger entering the lift, then stare at the closing elevator door.
ReplyDeleteTalking all about elevator reminds me of our own Pertamina Tower’s minute lift that is built to carry 6 people. The ones that designed it didn’t realize how small the space exactly is. I experienced having 6 people inside that lift and I felt as if the people in the lift were invading my personal space. I’m very relieved to get out of there the moment I reached the floor I chose.
Sometimes people who design the elevator would use mirrors for the inside walls of the elevator as it makes the elevator seem larger. I think this needs to be done to the little lift of ours.
The article is true. I act more quite in the lift even I enter with my friends or my family. Sometimes, I feel awkward when there are a lot of people in it, moreover when the lift stop and open in every floor, and we face every people there. Beside, I also afraid if suddenly the chain of the lift broken and I get stuck in the lift. So, I prefer to use stairs or escalator because it is more healthy and sometimes it is too long to wait for the lift if we are in rush.
ReplyDeleteWow. I just realized that when I read this article, and it’s true. I don’t know why lift atmosphere could make us feel awkward or quiet. It will happen like that if I enter lift with my friend, especially when there are just both of us. When we outside the lift, we chat together non-stop and we will stop when we enter the lift. I never realize that thing before. But, there is one of my friend that is just talking non-stop or rushing in the lift and do not care about the atmosphere or situation of other people. So, it’s true that lift atmosphere could make people stand in one side, not move around, and being quiet. But, it depends on people themselves too. If he/she is a type of hyper person, they won’t be quiet and stand in one side when they were in the lift
ReplyDeleteI never realized that being in a lift is creepy but I have to say that I usually never start a conversation in a lift since the time for that is too short anyway and a moment later you have to step out and your conversation is interrupted and that would be a quite weird moment. I don´t mind sharing the lift with many people either as long as the air inside is still fine and there is not one of those women standing next to you that smells like she showered in her own perfume.
ReplyDeleteI do feel that when I enter the lift, the atmosphere change drastically. It’s very awkward to start a conversation in a lift especially to strangers and also people often aware of every action that we make in the lift. We also have to avoid making sudden movements in the lift because it can cause a shock and disturbance to other lift passengers. In Indonesia, criminals that use hypnotic method are very popular so people will be more aware to strangers. For most of the time I feel uncomfortable using a lift on my own or by two with another stranger because bad thoughts can occur easily in this kind of situation.
ReplyDeleteI think this article really interesting because it is really true. when i enter the lift with my friends when the lift is empty we still talk to each other, but when other people enter the lift we feel awkward to keep talking. i agree with Dr Gray, if there are two of us, we take different corners. When a third person enters, we will unconsciously form a triangle. And when there is a fourth person it's a square, with someone in every corner. A fifth person is probably going to have to stand in the middle. this is really true! if i remember when i was in lift the people always like this.
ReplyDeleteThis article is exactly true. I feel awkward when I stand alone in a lift, and I feel a bit afraid. I am not a claustrophobia but I think people feel oddly in the lift because the size of the lift that relatively small and as the lift move automatically we do not know how the engine of a lift works so we might feel worry. And I have been doing the same thing in the lift as the article said, I usually keep silent when someone else coming and just stare at the number screen or do something with my phone. I feel a bit awkward too if I stand in a lift with the stranger, I worried that the stranger is a criminal.
ReplyDeleteI agree with this article. Imagine a tiny room with one - occasionally two - sliding doors. There is lighting ¬- always artificial - seldom accompanied by any natural light and never any furniture. Sometimes, there may be decorations, but they, like any music that may be playing, will be tasteless and wretched. There will always be buttons, and these will light up when pressed a relationship is to be found between the frequency of the door’s opening and the number of pressed buttons. They are called elevators, and I think they are physically dangerous and the setting for society’s most stifling awkwardness.
ReplyDeleteThink of the social taboos of an elevator and the unspoken rules associated with them: Stand facing the door. Don’t make eye contact. Don’t talk, except to request the pressing of a button. So, I would prefer to use escalator or stairs.
After i read this article suddenly i remember about my experienced in elevator a few a month ago. When i was used elevator in a building deliberately towards to that rooftops which had 56th floor. and also as i remembered that elevator has been designed from fifth floor directly it could be reach 56th floor without passes or stops in sixth floor up to 55th floor. I was really surprised because when i used that elevator it takes less one minute to reach 56th floor. I feel so awkward and my stomach feel sick at first time used that elevator but i think it caused by more physiological factors rather than physically ill.
ReplyDeleteI used to live in an apartment where I have to use the lift on a daily basis, so I have many experiences in lifts. The atmosphere that seems peculiar is when only two people are inside the lift. "To greet or not to greet", that is the question. Perhaps because the lift that I use is inside an apartment, we often greet because we see other people as neighbors. We already have an intimate mindset before we step in. The atmosphere of lifts slightly depend on what kind of building it's in. Is it an office building? A mall? On what level of casualness is it on? This article is very interesting to read because it makes us realize things that we don't realize ourselves and reminds me of my childhood days. A fun thing to do when you're in a lift alone or with a friend: Jump when the lift goes down. You'll feel like flying.
ReplyDeleteBeing in a small square metal box with strangers, even for only a couple of seconds, could make people feel awkward, or even scared. Whether its in a mall, hospital, office or even campus ground, most people stay quiet when inside a lift. Based on personal experience, most of the times when i'm in a lift alone, i'd be very quiet and rigid, and when at last i got to the floor i'm aiming for, and get out of the lift, i'll feel a huge relieve getting out of that suffocating place.
ReplyDeleteI agree with this article. This article is really true. I don’t like to talk too much when I am on the lift. I think many people do the same thing. Maybe because the space is small and closed then they are all strangers, so it is really uncomfortable. But it is better when the exterior is made from glasses, like Salsa said above, we still can see situation outside the lift. I prefer use escalator instead of lift because it is safer and more comfortable.
ReplyDeleteI agree with this article, there are several people that behave oddly inside the lift. It just really funny when I read this article, I didn’t realize yet before I read it. Sometimes when we are inside the lift, we would not talk about anything. If we talk, we will only talk about “What floor you would like to go?”. Usually people also always look at the lift sign in which floor we are. Eyes of the people inside is always look at that. In my opinion why we behave so oddly it is because that we didn’t know the people inside the lift and sometimes we are not used to talk with somebody that we didn’t recognize. Actually I didn't use lift often, I prefer to use escalator so I can see anywhere not only in the small box that can transport us from different floor. Escalator also more safety than lift because if there is something happen on the escalator, we can see where the escalator will go and we can predict how we can avoid the problem.
ReplyDeleteThe article is really interesting for me, because I never realize that people behave oddly in lifts. I do agree that people who enter the lifts, will stand in the corner first rather than in the middle. And I do not found that there is a culture which have a different behavior. Therefore it can be generalize that all people oddly behave in lifts.
ReplyDeleteSpeaking about lifts, in my opinion, those odd behavior will be end if the lifts stuck in the middle of the way. People will start to panic, and corroborate with people in the lifts on how to get out from the lifts. And I had been stuck in lifts for 3 hours when I was in Jordan. It was an awful experience to stuck in a lifts with Arabian. And I cannot call my friends outside the lifts, since there was no signal in that lift. And I just wait for people who came back to my apartment and talk to the receptionist that the lift do not work. But thankfully, it just 3 hours without a fresh air and light, not a day.
I never experienced an awkward situation when I was taken the lift. Usually when I enter the lift I have a small conversation like: Hello, how is your day etc and 1 min later good bye. The only thing what feels wired if you meet a guy or a girl in a lift and you believe that you met him or her before but you do not know when and where. Than you start starring at the person and when she or he noticed that the situation could get really embarrassing. You start telling the person that you are pretty sure that you have met before and at the end it was just a mind trick and you start to excuse yourself and promise that you will stop drinking.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteI think people behave so oddly in lifts mostly because they doesn’t know each other. Even if when we are with our family, when somebody enters the lift (in another floor), we will (instictively) become speecless. We abandon all the things that we want to said and just like the article said, we stand perfectly still. Maybe its because we (unthinkingly) respect he/ she. It’s not ethic if we are busy with our own conversations and left the man or woman alone in silent. And in addition, we are also not familiar with the situation when we have to talk to each other with a very close distance.
ReplyDeleteHello beautiful woman and handsome man!
ReplyDeleteThe funny about this article is even you are a talkative person or any kind of person, you will behave politely in the lift, you will just stand quite and before you stand quite you just press the button on the lift and then go to the corner and stand quite. The thing that hate about the lift is the place is stifled, and thats why you want to go out the lift quickly. THe other thing about the lift are sometime it takes time to reach the floor you wanted to, it pretty sucks.
Thank you!
Elevators, i believe it's the world's most awkward place to be in with strangers. I used to experience this awkward feeling of getting trapped with strangers. When i used to live in Dubai, i lived in an apartment and i lived in 4th floor of the building and that's the reason why i had to take the elevator everyday.
ReplyDeleteNow you see, getting trapped in an elevator with your friends could be the greatest thing in the world, you could do many fun things in the elevator, on the other hand being stuck in an elevator with strangers can be the most dreaded experience one could have. The awkward silence in the air, the feeling of making one wrong move could be the end in the world to you, and the awkward feeling when your gaze met with somebody.
Sometimes i wish i had the guts to break a wind during that situation to ease the tension.
This article is true. When i entered the lift and i found so many strangers i feel so awkward. In my opinion it is similar if we close with them and we do not know about them.It's like they will observing you thoroughly. But sometimes if i look beautiful and wearing a dress i just feel that i am a model because all ofd the eyes on the lift staring me.But still, the awkward situation is not just gone after all. Maybe the cramped space and some people which we don't know stand near us make our brain think "let's keep silent and don't do anything stupid". on the other hand this situation can have the advantages.If we are a business person, maybe in the lift we get to know the other person and maybe they are a person who get relation with our job it can be more have benefits.
ReplyDeleteIt's true that in an elivator people can experience a different kind of emotions. They can feel so happy, they can feel awkwarness, or they didn't feel nothing at all. Especially your a guy that awkward moment when you see someone pretty taking the same lift as yours, just like in the movies. You'll feel relly really awkward and on the other hand have the feeling of anticipation, where you really want to know her more. Also another example is when you're alone in the elevator, people can do sorts of thing like fixing their hair, dancing, or maybe feeling a little bit scared. Maybe when we work someday and we met some co-workers in the lift, we generally don't have time to talk or doing anything else except looking at the our watch.
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