# 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:** 14\ **Page:** 9
**Author:** ![Mongoose1546](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Mongoose1546](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mongoose1546)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2009, 4:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-using-an-elevator-that-fucking-hard/493035/161 "2009-05-20T04:59:11Z")
> [@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! Next time your douche bag, pompous ass is on an elevator making that incredibly important call, that just can’t wait another minute till you are off the elevator, poll people to see if you’re annoying as all fuck. The mere THOUGHT you should be inconvenienced and say “hold on a moment, I’m on an elevator”. The nerve! How 20th century can you get…gosh! Being part of the 21st century doesn’t give you the right to be an absolute selfish prick. We ALL carry the shit around with us. You aren’t special. Watch other grown-ups and learn how to behave in public. If you are a transplant surgeon and get an emergency call, that’s one thing. But something tells me you aren’t. ---
**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 20, 2009, 6:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-using-an-elevator-that-fucking-hard/493035/162 "2009-05-20T06:32:14Z")
> [@Mongoose1546](#): > > The mere THOUGHT you should be inconvenienced and say “hold on a moment, I’m on an elevator”. The nerve! How 20th century can you get…gosh! I’m on an elevator, and … other people’s hearing is artificially enhanced, so I’d better stop speaking? I’m on an elevator, and … my neighbours’ balance is so tenuous that my conversation may bowl them over? The concentration needed to stand on the right precludes speech? What on earth is so special about an elevator that silence must reign? ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2009, 7:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-using-an-elevator-that-fucking-hard/493035/163 "2009-05-20T07:59:02Z")
On an elevator, you are crammed tightly with other people. On an average elevator, people will have to get closer than normal courtesy dictates, such as nearly touching each other. If you’re at least a couple of feet away from people, that’s one thing. However, if the elevator has more than about three people in it, then chances are you are within inches of another person, rather than feet. ---
**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 20, 2009, 8:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-using-an-elevator-that-fucking-hard/493035/164 "2009-05-20T08:57:43Z")
> [@Lynn\_Bodoni](#): > > On an elevator, you are crammed tightly with other people. On an average elevator, people will have to get closer than normal courtesy dictates, such as nearly touching each other. If you’re at least a couple of feet away from people, that’s one thing. However, if the elevator has more than about three people in it, then chances are you are within inches of another person, rather than feet. Even assuming the slightly elevated speaking voice Americans seem to use on their mobile phones, if having to deal with someone talking on a phone next to you in a lift for a minute is the worst thing you have to put up with, you’ve got a far better life than 99.9999% of the people on the planet. Honestly, the hate for mobile/cellular phones on this board is truly baffling. In a century’s time, no doubt sociologists will be referencing these threads in Peer Reviewed Academic Journal articles on Neo-Luddites, Nokiaphobes, and the strange phenomonen that is SDMB-land, where everyone communicates via telepathy rather than the same phones used by mere mortals. ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2009, 10:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-using-an-elevator-that-fucking-hard/493035/165 "2009-05-20T10:32:22Z")
> [@](#): > > Even assuming the slightly elevated speaking voice Americans seem to use on their mobile phones, if having to deal with someone talking on a phone next to you in a lift for a minute is the worst thing you have to put up with, you’ve got a far better life than 99.9999% of the people on the planet. Slightly elevated? IME, people who insist on talking on their cells in an elevator or similar place always use their outside voices, suitable for bellowing across a couple of acres. Plus they always seem to have various soap opera dramas (male and female alike) going on in their lives. But yeah, it’s not terribly burdensome, just earsplitting for a couple of minutes. ---
**Author:** ![DSYoungEsq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c6cbf5/32.png) [@DSYoungEsq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSYoungEsq)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2009, 10:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-using-an-elevator-that-fucking-hard/493035/166 "2009-05-20T10:54:20Z")
If the cell phone conversation on teh elevator was carried out at a level consistent with good manners for carrying on a conversation between two people on an elevator (relatively quiet, with an understanding that your conversation may intrude on those around you), I’d be fine with it. But that’s not how people talk on mobile phones. They talk at an elevated volume, because a) the phone often doesn’t work as well if they don’t and b) they aren’t there with the person, so they unconsciously feel the need to talk louder to be heard. It doesn’t matter if you are on a cell phone or not. If you come on to an elevator with your friend, and you stand next to each other, and then discuss the merits of the chick on the 3d floor whose been coming on to you loudly enough that everyone in the elevator is made privvy to your conversation, you’re being rude. A mobile phone doesn’t change that. ---
**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 20, 2009, 11:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-using-an-elevator-that-fucking-hard/493035/167 "2009-05-20T11:03:34Z")
That’s probably where the difference is… people here (certainly those that I’ve encountered) _do_ talk more quietly on their phones in lifts or on the bus or wherever. I was really surprised when I was in the US to hear people SHOUTING INTO THEIR PHONES, as it’s not something I’d encountered elsewhere in my travels. Do people shout into landlines there? ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2009, 12:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-using-an-elevator-that-fucking-hard/493035/168 "2009-05-20T12:22:36Z")
Some people shout into the landlines, yes. Most people shout into the cellphones because otherwise they won’t be heard. And otherwise, all the rest of us won’t get to know what Jenny said to Michael on their date. ---
**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 20, 2009, 12:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-using-an-elevator-that-fucking-hard/493035/169 "2009-05-20T12:29:21Z")
I don’t want to know what he said- let’s cut to the chase if you know what I mean. ---
**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 20, 2009, 1:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-using-an-elevator-that-fucking-hard/493035/170 "2009-05-20T13:02:15Z")
> [@Martini\_Enfield](#): > > I was really surprised when I was in the US to hear people SHOUTING INTO THEIR PHONES, as it’s not something I’d encountered elsewhere in my travels. Cellular connections in the United States are not very good. ---
**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 20, 2009, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-using-an-elevator-that-fucking-hard/493035/171 "2009-05-20T13:39:44Z")
> [@acsenray](#): > > Cellular connections in the United States are not very good. They can’t be _that_ bad, surely? I used my mobile phone in the US several times to call Australia and NZ and never had any problems with the connection. ---
**Author:** ![ArizonaTeach](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/45deac/32.png) [@ArizonaTeach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ArizonaTeach)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2009, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-using-an-elevator-that-fucking-hard/493035/172 "2009-05-20T13:46:14Z")
> [@BellRungBookShut-CandleSnuffed](#): > > By that argument, it doesn’t just elevate things. It should be called the descendor. No, Descendor was one of He-Man’s enemies. ---
**Author:** ![Floppy\_Joe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3bc359/32.png) [@Floppy\_Joe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Floppy_Joe)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2009, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-using-an-elevator-that-fucking-hard/493035/173 "2009-05-20T18:44:50Z")
\ The issue with elevated volume while speaking into a cell phone is a problem of ignorance. The microphone part of the phone is an electric-condenser microphone. It automatically adjusts to volume. Speaking softly or loudly makes no difference, the mic adjusts. The reason people start talking louder 'n louder is due to the fact that what they hear in the earpiece sounds faint to them. “I can hardly hear you, so that means you can hardly hear me. I will talk louder.” It just ain’t so. When I whisper into my cell, it comes through quite clearly on the other end. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2009, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-using-an-elevator-that-fucking-hard/493035/174 "2009-05-21T03:22:31Z")
Pffft! Over here, they even keep talking on their handsets at the urinal! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-using-an-elevator-that-fucking-hard/493035.md?page=8)