Two little Elevator button rules to use in life



I think it's high time someone published the rules for using elevator buttons, especially the ones outside (that call for an elevator). I am sick and tired of the way these buttons are misused.

So here goes:

Rule #1:

The two buttons available to call an elevator have an up arrow and a down arrow. These are meant to indicate whether you want to go up or down, not whether the elevator must come up or down. For example, if you're on Floor 3 and you want to go to Floor 7, you need to press the Up arrow button. Many people see that the elevator is on Floor 5 and press the Down arrow button. When I ask them why they pressed the Down arrow button when they wanted to go up, they say I want the elevator to come down. Well, the elevator will figure out where it has to go but you please just let it know where you want to go because the elevator has no way to figure that out.

Corollary to Rule #1:

Never press both Up and Down arrows. It does not cause the elevator to come to your floor quicker. It simply causes more delays later in the process! Let us say the elevator is on Level 7. You are on Level 0. You want to go to Level 5. The Up arrow is already pressed. You come and press both the Up and Down buttons. The elevator was planning to go to Floor -2. Since you pressed the Down button, it will stop at Level 0. No one will get in or out. But you will have to wait until the door opens, waits a few seconds and then closes. You could have saved all that time!

Rule #2: 

If one of the arrows (Up or Down) is already lit up, pressing it again 2-3 times in quick succession does not make the elevator come to your floor quicker.

I see people who are in a rush. They will come to the elevator, see that one of the buttons is already pressed. But they're apparently in a hurry and so they will press the button again muttering some profanities under their breath. No, it does not help!

There you go! Two simple rules to ride elevators efficiently and make this world a much better place!

Comments

Unknown said…
Dude, first of of all it's appreciated that you thought of putting it up on the blog but u failed to deliver the message in a clear way, that is u failed to answer what's the reason behind pressing certain directional button ? When we want to go up and we press down button the life still comes down. And why is that ? Pressing either buttons will summon the lift right ? What's will pressing the right directional button do exactly ? As mentioned in corollary rule we r on level 0 so there's no wastage of time since the lift is coming to level 0.
Kamal D Shah said…
Thanks for your comment. The direction button is important. Let us say you're on 0 and you want to go to the 3rd floor. If the lift is currently at the 5th floor and there is someone who is going to the basement (-1). If you press the Up button, the lift will not stop. But if you press the down button, it will stop at 0 unnecessarily. Hope this makes it clear.

Thanks!
Anonymous said…
Thanks! That was helpful
Unknown said…
Thank you.. ๐Ÿ˜„๐Ÿ˜Š
Anonymous said…
not me, when I was in the 8th I pressed up to signal the elevator to come to me in floor I'm standing, this is not to say I want to reach to the top end floor of the building.... I think I'm smarter than what people had little credit given to me for when it comes to intelligence, I experience it myself when I was going to my parents and saw firsthand or least how it operate as I recall.. there is one exception,,, when you are on the ground floor you can press up to let the elevator know you wanted to go up, and when your on the different floor you can press either up or down depending on your floor destination even though there are passengers wanted to go to different floor... Just be careful not to break the buttons by pressing repeatedly or it will break and the passengers will get stuck... Believe me, last time I attempted to go down or up to the floor suddenly the elevator led me to different floors not on route, it's annoying and can really damage the mechanism if continue
Anonymous said…
Really appreciate it Man
TerryD said…
In the hotel I'm in at the moment on the -1 level there is only one button pointing down which would indicate you're commanding the lift to come down.
Bipin said…
well said :-) hope people understand and change their behaviour
Neeraj said…
https://engineering.stackexchange.com/questions/33792/when-an-elevator-has-two-buttons-next-to-it-and-v-what-do-they-actually-mean
Good arguments/rationale here.
Krishnan said…
Another annoying habit of many. Occupy the lift even though it is moving in the opposite direction.Koi Baath nahin - attitude. No concern for others.