# What is extremely common in TV or movies but almost never happens in real life? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 6, 2021, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311 "2021-02-06T04:16:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 133
**Author:** ![alovem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b38774/32.png) [@alovem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alovem)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2023, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/2642 "2023-05-24T17:20:04Z")
Yeah, that surprised me, too. I was with a coworker who was into me, so I said, “Hey, what happens if I do this?” and pressed the button, thinking that she’d laugh and I’d move in for a kiss. Not my smoothest move. 😁 ---
**Author:** ![Zyada](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zyada/32/3028_2.png) [@Zyada](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zyada)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2023, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/2643 "2023-05-25T03:01:39Z")
I remember at least one building where the emergency stop wouldn’t sound an alarm (long, long time ago). People would stop the elevator to have sex. The alarm was added to stop that. Or maybe that was the story? It was a long, LONG time ago ---
**Author:** ![Dr\_Paprika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr_paprika/32/3042_2.png) [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2023, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/2644 "2023-05-25T16:09:56Z")
Better to think outside the box, climb through the little door on the roof, enjoy the ups and downs, and hope no one needs to go to the highest floor. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2023, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/2645 "2023-05-25T16:31:13Z")
All you’d have to do is grimace, duck down, and turn your head sideways. The mechanism will come within inches of your head and stop. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2023, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/2646 "2023-05-25T18:31:14Z")
Omg you’ve stumbled upon one of my worst nightmares. When I was a little kid I saw an episode of Matlock where someone put a bomb on an elevator and I’ve been afraid of elevators ever since. In fact I pretty much expected bombs to be everywhere the way they were on TV. I wouldn’t let my Mom leave me in the car alone because I thought someone would crawl under the car and plant a bomb there. Haven’t encountered one yet. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2023, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/2647 "2023-05-25T18:34:00Z")
> [@Dr\_Paprika](#): > > Better to think outside the box, climb through the little door on the roof, enjoy the ups and downs, and hope no one needs to go to the highest floor. 😉 There’s a word for that; [elevator surfing](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elevator_surfing), and as you might guess, it’s dangerous. Particularly so when the kids doing it decide to jump from one elevator to the other. There are periodically stories in the papers about a kid getting killed doing this. ---
**Author:** ![WildaBeast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wildabeast/32/6_2.png) [@WildaBeast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WildaBeast)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2023, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/2648 "2023-05-25T18:35:41Z")
> [@Zyada](#): > > I remember at least one building where the emergency stop wouldn’t sound an alarm The elevators in my college dorm were like the opposite – there was a button that would just ring the alarm bell without stopping the elevator (I assume there was also an emergency stop button, but it was so long ago I don’t really remember). Students liked to just ring the bell for fun as they were riding the elevator. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2023, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/2649 "2023-05-25T20:11:06Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > There are periodically stories in the papers about a kid getting killed doing this. It’s called “Natural Selection.” ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2023, 7:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/2650 "2023-05-26T07:31:34Z")
> [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](#): > > All you’d have to do is grimace, duck down, and turn your head sideways. The mechanism will come within inches of your head and stop. Some years ago I saw a made-for-TV murder mystery. On the ground floor of a modern building was an elevator and it had an old-fashioned floor indicator with a dial and pointer. “That’s oddly out of place,” I thought. Then the murder happened. The victim was in the elevator and the murderer contrived to make it stop about four feet short of the floor she wanted, then open the doors. Flustered, she levered herself up and as she started to pull out the rest of the way the doors closed on her waist. Then the cabin started to move down, cut to the ground floor where you see the pointer move to a point halfway between the floors, hesitate, then move on. “Aha!” ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2023, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/2651 "2023-05-26T14:03:40Z")
> [@DesertDog](#): > > an old-fashioned floor indicator with a dial and pointer. Not too common, but it has happened: the car will respond to where ever someone twists the dial. There’s an Arbuckle, or maybe Keaton, where the guy yanks the dial to the right, and the car comes crashing out of the roof of the building. ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2023, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/2652 "2023-05-26T18:10:17Z")
> [@DesertDog](#): > > The victim was in the elevator and the murderer contrived to make it stop about four feet short of the floor she wanted, then open the doors. Flustered, she levered herself up and as she started to pull out the rest of the way the doors closed on her waist. Then the cabin started to move down, cut to the ground floor where you see the pointer move to a point halfway between the floors, hesitate, then move on. I remember that scene. I saw it in a movie about college students inventing a fictional person that they use to scam for penny ante stuff. Then, an actual bad guy discovers their scheme and starts to kill off the students so he can take over the fictional persona for his own nefarious purposes. I think it was called _Paper Man._ Also, it was one of the early movies to incorporate the idea of hacking (kinda), because the paper man was actually created using computer files/accounts. ---
**Author:** ![Biotop](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biotop/32/321_2.png) [@Biotop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biotop)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2023, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/2653 "2023-05-29T12:56:49Z")
When someone arrives on TV or in the movies, after a long trip, they have plenty of things to do. But somehow immediately going to the bathroom is not one of them. ---
**Author:** ![Asuka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@Asuka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asuka)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2023, 6:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/2654 "2023-06-07T06:31:54Z")
“Death Row Inmates” in fiction are plentiful, so plentiful in fact you can use them as a steady stream for your live human experimentation programs or as expendable security for your top secret government projects and nobody in the general public will notice. I swear in the SCP universe with the amount of death row inmates they go through speeding must be a death row offensive to keep up with demand. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2023, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/2655 "2023-06-08T05:15:07Z")
A car is driving down the road, and one of the passengers is annoying the driver, so the driver parks the car in the middle of a busy intersection, shuts off the engine, and refuses to move until the offending passenger gets out and walks. ---
**Author:** ![Asuka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@Asuka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asuka)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2023, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/2656 "2023-06-09T22:55:36Z")
People who claim to see UFOs are immediately sent to the nuthouse or immediately placed under psychiatric evaluation even if the government isn’t actively covering it up. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2023, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/2657 "2023-06-12T14:21:49Z")
> [@Cheesesteak](#): > > Using the Emergency Stop button in an elevator, so you can have a private conversation. > > I am deeply afraid of that button, and feel like it’s akin to pulling a fire alarm. I could be in a dead quiet office, my own apartment building basically being the only person there, and I wouldn’t touch the thing, not even seriously considering it for a moment. When I was in grad school, we had an elevator with an Emergency Stop that everyone routinely used to stop the elevator for extended periods while loading/unloading stuff. Nothin’ to be afraid of. ---
**Author:** ![bengangmo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/50afbb/32.png) [@bengangmo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bengangmo)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2023, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/2658 "2023-06-13T01:58:12Z")
Ive never even seen an emergency stop in an elevator. Nothibg other than a hold button in a freight elevator. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2023, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/2659 "2023-06-15T14:38:09Z")
A wealthy and successful business or wealthy landowner can decide to shut down, buy out, or evict a less prosperous (but typically more spunky and fun-loving) rival or even an entire neighborhood. The only legal process, such as there is one, is typically a sinister and/or pretentious representative (often wearing comically out of place attire such as dress shoes at a ski resort or a business suit at the beach) serving an official notice with some stated countdown… The takeover can typically be averted through either the discovery of a lost treasure (typically subject to either maritime salvage law or the rule of “finders keepers…”), winning a mismatched competition, and/or by throwing a kick-ass party. The winners are pardoned from any laws broken during the course of these activities, up to and including trespassing, vandalism, assault and battery, damage to property, theft, and/or any criminality associated with the death of anyone involved (i.e. henchmen killed in shoot-outs, car chases, falling out of aircraft, by ancient booby traps, etc.). ---
**Author:** ![Dr\_Paprika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr_paprika/32/3042_2.png) [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2023, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/2660 "2023-06-15T19:56:50Z")
That’s a great post. But _Local Hero_ is still one of my favourite movies. ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2023, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/2661 "2023-07-09T15:52:20Z")
My aunt, normally extremely law-abiding, had her first experience with stimulants when she had three exams on the same day in college. She claimed it was just caffeine pills, and she took about 5,000mg over about 4 hours, staying up more than 24 hours. Since I was 16 at the time, I wonder now if it was just caffeine-- albeit, since she wasn’t arrested, possibly. She was a college freshman or sophomore, at the University of Chicago, just for background, and an international student from Greece, in the US for the first time. At 15 or 16, she had spent a year in the UK as an exchange student, and English is a public school subject in Greece. Also, she was about 5’ even, and very cute at 19 - 20, which is how old she would have been at the time. What she did was exceed the speed limit on what was technically the highway (beltway), but close enough to a residential area to be a 45mph zone. It was the 70s, and she was driving a big, V-8 car, at least 10 years old, and she was going about 65, so a cop takes off after her. She speeds up. They go several miles, and eventually he starts to catch up, and gets close enough to bullhorn her to pull over. She does, and jumps out of the car, and yells at him something along the lines of “why are you stopping? I thought you had to get to some big emergency! I was trying to drive fast enough that I didn’t get in the way of your big emergency!” Somehow, she did not get a ticket, just a warning, and a verbal order to drive straight home-- but in the 70s, the police also dealt with drunks that way. I asked her if she really thought that or just said it at the time. She said that when she first took off, she knew the law, but by the time she pulled over, she’d forgotten it. She also said she drove straight home and passed out on the couch, not even making it to her bedroom. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311.md?page=132) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311.md?page=134)