# Is using an elevator that fucking hard? **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [April 14, 2009, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-using-an-elevator-that-fucking-hard/493035 "2009-04-14T04:25:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 8
**Author:** ![calm\_kiwi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9fc348/32.png) [@calm\_kiwi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/calm_kiwi)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2009, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-using-an-elevator-that-fucking-hard/493035/141 "2009-05-12T12:47:16Z")
> [@Lynn\_Bodoni](#): > > Actually, yes, once a person gets on an escalator he should STOP MOVING. For one thing, it’s quite possible that the person has bad knees, or bad hips, or something else that hurts to move. > > But mostly people shouldn’t walk on escalators because it’s dangerous. You could trip and fall, and that’s no joke on a moving stairway. People can and do get mutilated when parts of their body get caught in an escalator. If you brush up against someone, especially someone who has balance issues, then you could cause them to fall. I’ve been bumped unexpectedly on solid ground by someone who is in a rush to get somewhere and doesn’t look where he’s going, and because I have balance issues, I’ve fallen. It was completely accidental, but I still had a hard time getting up. And these accidents all happened on level ground. If I’d been on an escalator in front of someone who was trying to get past me…it probably wouldn’t have been pretty. > > So calm down. I agree that escalators are an excellent way for the infirm to move between floors and they should be given all consideration while on the escalator. BUT the majority of people on an escalator are not infirm or suffering from any disability. They just see the stairs moving and enter into some trance like state…I MUST STAND STILL BECAUSE THE STAIRS ARE MOVING. As far as escalators being dangerous? For those with disabilities, I’m sure they certainly could be dangerous. For unsupervised children, also a possible danger. For Joe Blogs? Well they are just stairs that make your journey easier and faster. If you are feeling a little bit weary or tired that’s fine. Just don’t stand in the middle of the bloody stair so those of us who choose to to treat the escalator as speedy stairs (rather than some immobilising device) can just pass by. As far as avoiding mutilating devices…well just stay out of cars, you are much more likely to have a car accident then an escalator accident. I try to calm down. My moniker was aimed at me! (and for the record I’m very lazy…I just hate malls and try to get in and out as quick as possible…escalator waiting gives me the willies!). ---
**Author:** ![calm\_kiwi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9fc348/32.png) [@calm\_kiwi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/calm_kiwi)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2009, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-using-an-elevator-that-fucking-hard/493035/142 "2009-05-12T12:54:59Z")
> [@TruCelt](#): > > Are you serious? I should interrupt my call because, what, the 20th century was to much for you? You can’t handle being reminded that you’re in the 21st? > > Cell phones are a fact of life, get used to them. Unless the person using it is likewise technophobic, and feels the need to yell into the phone like it’s a combat walkie talkie, let it go! Are you serious? You shouldn’t interrupt your call because you are locked in a small box (for mere seconds) with other people who just don’t want to hear about your business? Is society too much for you to handle? Manners are a fact of life, learn them. Unless a person feels like they can not cope without a conversation for the seconds it takes for a elavator trip, let it go. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2009, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-using-an-elevator-that-fucking-hard/493035/143 "2009-05-12T14:04:58Z")
It’s not really much of an issue around here. As soon as the elevator starts moving, cell phones get cut off. ---
**Author:** ![Rack-a-Bones](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/77aa72/32.png) [@Rack-a-Bones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rack-a-Bones)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2009, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-using-an-elevator-that-fucking-hard/493035/144 "2009-05-12T23:21:45Z")
> [@Martini\_Enfield](#): > > Hey, my experience the last time I was in the UK was simple: Keep moving on the escalator or get out of the way of the people that were. I think the universal rule of people movers is stand on the right, move on the left. It’s been that way for escalators and those conveyer belt things you walk on in airports in every country I’ve been. > [@calm\_kiwi](#): > > Are you serious? You shouldn’t interrupt your call because you are locked in a small box (for mere seconds) with other people who just don’t want to hear about your business? Is society too much for you to handle? > > Manners are a fact of life, learn them. Unless a person feels like they can not cope without a conversation for the seconds it takes for a elavator trip, let it go. Manners **are** a fact of life which means if you can’t understand that loudly blabbing away in a small box is annoying then you don’t have any manners. Yesterday on the bus some lady five or six rows back is loudly yapping away the entire ride. I got to hear one side of a conversation about Tristan and Sarah and Michael and gardening and how mom has two man friends (yes she said man friends), and BLAH BLAH. Meanwhile, people a few rows back and across the aisle were also talking on the phone and I could barely hear them. ‘Inside voices’ people! ---
**Author:** ![Martini\_Enfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/martini_enfield/32/11123_2.png) [@Martini\_Enfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martini_Enfield)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2009, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-using-an-elevator-that-fucking-hard/493035/145 "2009-05-13T01:39:39Z")
> [@calm\_kiwi](#): > > Are you serious? You shouldn’t interrupt your call because you are locked in a small box (for mere seconds) with other people who just don’t want to hear about your business? Is society too much for you to handle? > > Manners are a fact of life, learn them. Unless a person feels like they can not cope without a conversation for the seconds it takes for a elavator trip, let it go. Personally, I find it really interesting to listen to the half of conversations people have on cellphones. So please, _don’t_ get off the phone in the lift or on the bus. It’s much more entertaining than staring blankly out the window or off into space, IMHO. ---
**Author:** ![bengangmo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/50afbb/32.png) [@bengangmo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bengangmo)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2009, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-using-an-elevator-that-fucking-hard/493035/146 "2009-05-13T03:16:34Z")
> [@Rack-a-Bones](#): > > I think the universal rule of people movers is stand on the right, move on the left. It’s been that way for escalators and those conveyer belt things you walk on in airports in every country I’ve been. My natural instinct is to stand on the left walk on the right…but then we drive on the left, so I wonder if that has an impact ---
**Author:** ![spinky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@spinky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spinky)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2009, 8:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-using-an-elevator-that-fucking-hard/493035/147 "2009-05-13T08:21:24Z")
> [@bengangmo](#): > > Nah he’s not - generally speaking we do keep moving on escalators - not everybody and not all the time, but we don’t turn to stone. Did you happen to read the claim he made? It was that it is “widely accepted that you do _not_ stop on an escalator.” His emphasis. As for the “generally speaking”, do you suppose you could come up with a youtube video of a tube escalator where the majority of people are not standing still? ---
**Author:** ![bengangmo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/50afbb/32.png) [@bengangmo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bengangmo)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2009, 8:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-using-an-elevator-that-fucking-hard/493035/148 "2009-05-13T08:57:56Z")
> [@ntucker](#): > > Did you happen to read the claim he made? It was that it is “widely accepted that you do _not_ stop on an escalator.” His emphasis. As for the “generally speaking”, do you suppose you could come up with a youtube video of a tube escalator where the majority of people are not standing still? Well considering as I read it that he was speaking of the Antipodes when he said it, not too sure what a english tube video would prove. And also considering that his experience reflects my own, why do I want to go looking for a cite? I don’t need to prove it to myself, and its such an insignificant matter that if you don’t want to take our word for it, well then so be it. ---
**Author:** ![Dead\_Badger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/848f3c/32.png) [@Dead\_Badger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dead_Badger)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2009, 9:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-using-an-elevator-that-fucking-hard/493035/149 "2009-05-13T09:14:31Z")
> [@ntucker](#): > > Did you happen to read the claim he made? It was that it is “widely accepted that you do _not_ stop on an escalator.” His emphasis. As for the “generally speaking”, do you suppose you could come up with a youtube video of a tube escalator where the majority of people are not standing still? Like people have said, the rule is you [stand on the right](http://www.staynl.com/travelpictures/london/stand-on-the-right.jpg) so others can walk on the left. ---
**Author:** ![Martini\_Enfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/martini_enfield/32/11123_2.png) [@Martini\_Enfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martini_Enfield)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2009, 11:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-using-an-elevator-that-fucking-hard/493035/150 "2009-05-13T11:17:30Z")
> [@ntucker](#): > > Did you happen to read the claim he made? It was that it is “widely accepted that you do _not_ stop on an escalator.” His emphasis. As for the “generally speaking”, do you suppose you could come up with a youtube video of a tube escalator where the majority of people are not standing still? The presence or absence of a Youtube video on a given subject should not be the definitive proof of its factual correctness… Normal people do not go about videoing people on London Underground railway station escalators and then post the footage on Youtube for shits and giggles. _Your_ experience of escalators is obviously different from mine, and **bengangmo** s, and **Rack-a-Bones** , and **Dead Badger** s, and all the other people reading this thread and nodding in agreement but not bothering to post on the subject. That’s fine. But don’t try and tell us that we’re wrong when we clearly aren’t. ---
**Author:** ![calm\_kiwi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9fc348/32.png) [@calm\_kiwi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/calm_kiwi)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2009, 11:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-using-an-elevator-that-fucking-hard/493035/151 "2009-05-13T11:40:13Z")
> [@Rack-a-Bones](#): > > Manners **are** a fact of life which means if you can’t understand that loudly blabbing away in a small box is annoying then you don’t have any manners. Yesterday on the bus some lady five or six rows back is loudly yapping away the entire ride. I got to hear one side of a conversation about Tristan and Sarah and Michael and gardening and how mom has two man friends (yes she said man friends), and BLAH BLAH. Meanwhile, people a few rows back and across the aisle were also talking on the phone and I could barely hear them. ‘Inside voices’ people! I think you mis-read what I said. I agree with you. ---
**Author:** ![Dead\_Badger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/848f3c/32.png) [@Dead\_Badger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dead_Badger)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2009, 12:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-using-an-elevator-that-fucking-hard/493035/152 "2009-05-13T12:08:48Z")
I think we can all agree that this is not how you [use an escalator](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fFqQOlYE4EE). ---
**Author:** ![DSYoungEsq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c6cbf5/32.png) [@DSYoungEsq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSYoungEsq)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2009, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-using-an-elevator-that-fucking-hard/493035/153 "2009-05-13T16:02:21Z")
Don’t forget about the last time the power went out in Warsaw. Escalators across the city were jammed with people unable to get off them. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Rack-a-Bones](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/77aa72/32.png) [@Rack-a-Bones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rack-a-Bones)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2009, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-using-an-elevator-that-fucking-hard/493035/154 "2009-05-13T17:04:38Z")
> [@calm\_kiwi](#): > > I think you mis-read what I said. I agree with you. You’re correct. I did mis-read what you said. Me bad. ---
**Author:** ![spinky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@spinky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spinky)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2009, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-using-an-elevator-that-fucking-hard/493035/155 "2009-05-14T00:15:08Z")
> [@Dead\_Badger](#): > > Like people have said, the rule is you [stand on the right](http://www.staynl.com/travelpictures/london/stand-on-the-right.jpg) so others can walk on the left. Of course it is. What I don’t understand is people making a claim that stopping on an escalator is simply **not done** in general. A youtube video is obviously not proof of anything, but isn’t it a bit funny that random youtube videos show an overwhelming majority of people **standing still** on the escalators in the Underground? You know, since people **don’t** do that and all. ---
**Author:** ![jasonh300](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/46a35a/32.png) [@jasonh300](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jasonh300)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2009, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-using-an-elevator-that-fucking-hard/493035/156 "2009-05-16T19:25:13Z")
> [@PopeJewish](#): > > And “lift” is just how those silly Brits refer to elevators. They also say things like “car boot” instead of “trunk” and “mobile” instead of “cell phone.” They’re not pretentious for doing so, just “different” 😛 _Cleveland Brown: The only British idiom I know is that “fag” means “cigarette.” Peter Griffin: Well, someone tell this “cigarette” to shut up_ ---
**Author:** ![picunurse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7bcc69/32.png) [@picunurse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/picunurse)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2009, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-using-an-elevator-that-fucking-hard/493035/157 "2009-05-16T23:19:48Z")
> [@MeanOldLady](#): > > Okay, so now that we’ve eliminated rule 11, am I adding rule 13 now? Does friedo’s rule count? Whatever, here’s another rule. I’ll call it rule 27. > > 1. People who take the elevator from the first floor to the second floor must either a) submit proof of injury, or b) fuck off. So, the facts that my boobs are too big to see the steps in front of me and I’m fairly clumsy, make me ineligible to ride safely in the elevator? You ARE mean! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![calm\_kiwi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9fc348/32.png) [@calm\_kiwi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/calm_kiwi)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2009, 11:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-using-an-elevator-that-fucking-hard/493035/158 "2009-05-19T11:19:26Z")
> [@picunurse](#): > > So, the facts that my boobs are too big to see the steps in front of me and I’m fairly clumsy, make me ineligible to ride safely in the elevator? You ARE mean! 😃 I pity the big boobed kind on nomal stairs. They must be landing arse over tit on a regular basis. ---
**Author:** ![MeanOldLady](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/meanoldlady/32/10737_2.png) [@MeanOldLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MeanOldLady)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2009, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-using-an-elevator-that-fucking-hard/493035/159 "2009-05-19T14:42:59Z")
> [@calm\_kiwi](#): > > I pity the big boobed kind on nomal stairs. They must be landing arse over tit on a regular basis. You know, I don’t know why people say things like this. I also hear a lot of jokes about women not being able to see their shoes, or the ground, etc. People are perfectly capable of leaning over a bit. It’s seeing your belt or pants button that’s an actual dilemma. Fortunately, these things are fairly easy to manage in most cases, and you don’t need to be able to see your belt buckle to get it to work. Unless it’s a complicated belt, in which case you probably shouldn’t buy it. ---
**Author:** ![Cicero](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cicero/32/3594_2.png) [@Cicero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cicero)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2009, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-using-an-elevator-that-fucking-hard/493035/160 "2009-05-19T14:54:21Z")
I hear you. We well hung guys manage. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-using-an-elevator-that-fucking-hard/493035.md?page=7) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-using-an-elevator-that-fucking-hard/493035.md?page=9)