It would be so easy to equip elevators with “cancel” buttons.
That way, when you get on an elevator after some jackass has hit ALL the floor buttons, all you have to do is hit “cancel”, then “1”, “cancel”, then “2”, etc… Or, better yet, “cancel all”, then you can select the floor you want.
I mean COME ON… I have a cell phone that will shoot video while reminding me, to the tune of “Three Blind Mice”, that my aunt’s cat is turning three on Thursday… why no “cancel button”?
Partly because the same jackasses who press all the buttons before running off would also abuse this feature, too. Sure, they could easily include such a feature; obviously, since they do not, there is no advantage to it, either economically or practically.
The elevators here are programmed with a cancel function for the floor buttons. If you accidentally hit 5 when you meant to hit 6, all you have to do is hit 5 again to deselect it and then hit 6 to get to your intended destination. Sadly, the call button in the floor elevator lobbies aren’t so programmed.
Well, for the sake of simplicity let’s assume that all pandemonium does break out on these new-fangled elevators. Maybe “floor selection status” is indicated by lighting the button. It’s not the deck of the Millennium Falcon.
I live in a building that has unlighted buttons and have been working in older buildings that also have unlighted buttons; though I usually just use the stairs in them. I forgot there were such things
Is this really a huge problem for you? Although I don’t doubt that someone does it, I’ve never in my life boarded an elevator where this was the situation.
I promise you, right now, somewhere in the world, maybe in Santiago, Chile, or perhaps in Geneva, Switzerland, some kid is hammering the crap out of the panel in an elevator.
But seriously, is this problem a “world-wobbler”? No. But it would be so simple to implement and it just makes sense. It seems by an earlier post that the idea is being implemented already.
Yeah, it’s a lot easier to be a jackass when granted anonymity, as a quick perusal of the great unwashed masses of the Internet never fails to demonstrate…
If it were possible to cancel, it would quickly lead to problems as some self-important jerk who feels he or she is in a hurry would cancel other people’s floors so as to get to his or her destination more quickly. A lot of people would “accidentaly” cancel other peoples’ floors.
But I guess they would have to accidentally cancel the other guy’s floor RIGHT before the elevator reached it, otherwise the victim would simply re-select their floor.
I guess people could play elevator games all day long. Jerks already do what they can with current elevators by hitting all the buttons.
Maybe the ultimate question is whether a “cancel” button would solve more problems than it creates.
By the way, I’ve seen a lot of young people press all the floor buttons as a joke. The holy grail of this prank seems to be a situation where a hot babe in a miniskirt who’s in a hurry sees all the buttons lit and decides to take the stairs. Giving the prankster a nice view.
Either that or they could stand right next to the control panel and block other people from accessing it.
Sure, but hitting all the buttons doesn’t get you where you are going any faster. Cancelling other peoples’ buttons would.
In New York City, there would be regular disputes over cancellations, many of which would escalate into fistfights or even fatal confrontations.
I am confident of this because in the New York City area, people regularly cut me (and others) in line. They accomplish this by pretending not to understand what they are doing. While driving, many people engage in behavior that amounts to line cutting. If people are willing to cut others in line, they are also willing to cancel other peoples’ floors on the elevator. The main difference being that if your floor is cancelled on an elevator, it is like being sent to the end of the line. So it’s certain to lead to a lot of anger, disputes, fisticuffs, and worse.
