Yes, I push the button for them if asked politely. No big deal to me, even if it is several times a day.

To avoid being asked, enter the car, push your floor and move to the rear, kitty corner if possible. If you have a book or work papers, read them to be ignored.

But honestly, my life has other worries than pushing an elevator button.

And those that enter before the car has emptied are just plain rude. When it has happened to me, I say "excuse me" and bump into them on the way out if possible.

Rob.....really? Oh, the agony!

Sure, I'd push it. Why not? It's such a trivial thing.

Maybe the person is a germophobe. if so, I'm happy to alleviate their discomfort, if only for a moment.

Or maybe some people simply don't want to reach in front of you to push the button themselves.

I don't think your finger is going to wear out, Rob. ;-)

It would depend on how they ask- if they act like they are bored and that I am there merely to serve them, yeah- I'd get sick of that. If they look at me and ask sweetly, I'd be happy to push ALL the buttons for them, LOL!

People who get on before the occupants get off are stupid! Are they afraid of being left behind or something? I think some people do stuff like that just to pull peoples' chains, they enjoy being rude and obnoxious!

Signed,
Flamey who honestly can't remember the last time she was on an elevator.... OH! Our library has one, it goes up one floor and I only used it last winter because the steps were roped off due to an ice storm! The thing must be 100 years old and it's loud and slow. LOL

you bump them? HA!

They're out of luck if they're a germophobe. It's a hospital! Wrong line of work. Work elevators, not patient.

Y'all are making me giggle. I have pushed the button plenty (already said so and suggested how to turn it around all on my own). You'll notice, most of what I said was tongue in cheek ;)

All the buttons?! that would make me laugh imagining that next time it happens.

Yes, it's the "there to serve them attitude" that bugs me (what she had and why I went so far as to ignore yesterday. That and no one was blocking her. We had things in our hands. She didn't). A frail elderly person working hard just to get on the elevator (that'd be my mom!), asking politely, you bet. I'd bend over backwards for them.

What pkramer said.

When you're out in public, you're out in public. You get exposed to all the pleasant AND annoying things other people do. That shouldn't be news to anyone.

Ya push all of the buttons, then say, "Sorry - I didn't hear you - I don't hear very well".

At least ... they didn't ask you to push the button with your tongue - oh, yeah: it was planted firmly in cheek.

(As is mine).

I might say, "Looks like I have four things in my hands ... and you got nuthin in yours". With a smile.

o j

What she said was she bumps into people. I would've never guess she'd say that! It just makes me smile broadly. teehee

I know there are pleasant AND annoying things other people do. Online even.

oj has another vote for all the buttons! It could go like this:

Nine please?

What't that you say? Eight? (push the button)

Nine, please?

Ten? Did you say ten? (push the button) Huh, not ten, how about seven?

And then get off on four. HA!

Hee-hee! "ALL the buttons!" FlamingO, you haven't lost your 'Inner Child"!

I'm trying to imagine why I would even give it a second thought. It's never occurred to me to feel inconvenienced.

And if I'm closest to the pad, I'd rather be asked to push, than have someone step close me to do it themselves.
A bit of casual conversational interaction with a stranger is more comfortable to me than physical closeness in an already confined space.

'Would or could you'
'Of course'
'Thank you'
'You're welcome'

No big deal. Add a smile and everyone feels good.

I'm not on an elevator very often but I never ask someone to push a button for me - my fingers aren't broken, they work just fine.

If someone does ask and there isn't anyone else around or very few people, I just back away from the panel to give them lots of room to push their own button and say "there you go". I figure they may have a really large personal space requirement AND I am not their personal servant.

That too entered my mind blfenton. Step way back, bow deeply, and then motion "help thyself"... but point to the buttons on both the side I was on and the other side. Two sets of buttons and still she couldn't bother with it. Made me laugh in my head! I'd forgotten that one.

Two sets of buttons?! and she still doesn't do it. Are you the only one that she does this to or does it matter? Does she have an inflated sense of who she is - is she the head honcho - are you all, in fact, her personal servants either in reality or perhaps in her head?

I need a sarcasm, tongue-in-cheek emoticon.

Not many around here are double-posted.

o j

Maybe the person doesn't know how to read numbers correctly.
Kindness is contagious.

She seriously expected us to with two sets of buttons no one was blocking.

All the tongue in cheek is for silly reactions one might take.

What a jerk.

Maybe this person is a germaphobe or has a compromised immune system. I often see people push the buttons with their elbow, especially in hospital or doctor office elevators. Maybe this person does that when no one else is around. I have a friend going through chemo who is extremely cautious when she is out. When I am out with her, she does ask me to open doors, etc... for her.

On another aspect of elevator manners, I remember visiting Montreal and Toronto 39 years ago and I was soooo impressed with the Canadian men who all took off their hats when they spotted me on the elevator. It was just so lovely. I was so impressed by the Canadian good manners.

Yep, it would totally inconvenience me to push an elevator button for someone! *smdh*

Observant Jews do not push elevator buttons on Saturday. There are special programmed elevators that stop on every floor in some buildings on Saturdays.

Better than someone farting when the door closes.

I would probably give them the benefit of the doubt. Not all issues are visible. Honestly I think it's more rude to ignore someone who asks you something than to ask someone to do something.

I know last year I hurt my back severely to the point where every extra movement was excruciating. No one could tell as I would force myself to walk normally if I had to go somewhere but it was awful. I probably would have asked someone to do something simple like that if it meant less pain for me and I didn't think it would be a hardship for them. Extreme example but you just never know.

I'd bend over backwards to help you chi, because I really truly doubt you would've said it like she did.

If there were button pads on both sides and you weren't blocking them, I would just make a sweeping gesture and say "help yourself". But really, it never occurred to me, I would just automatically press the button someone asked for. No big deal.

It is funny how small things can greatly irritate us. And, sometimes it can be something that never did before and all of a sudden it does.

If this is currently "raising your hackles" I would push my floor then as pkramer suggests, move back and away from the panel.

I would gladly assist in pushing the buttons in an elevator. It only takes a moment. Life is too short.
Mary

lol...what a funny post...my dad and now my dh and ds2 sell elevators...when I get on with dh he usually parks himself over by the pad and obliges all askers...

'maybe some people simply don't want to reach in front of you'

That's what I'm thinking.

I thought the thread was going to be about things like where do you stand if you're the first on, if you're the last on, etc.

I'm extra-aware of safety issues right now, since the murder of Realtor Beverley Carter, who was abducted & killed (although he hasn't confessed to killing her) by a guy who had posted an ad on craigslist wanting a 'fantasy' Realtor to meet him at a vacant house where they would both 'get turned on'.

When that didn't work, he called a real Realtor & made an appointment.

I'd think that the safest place to be in an elevator is at the back, where no one can grab you from behind.

If everyone else were getting off the elevator & it looked like I was going to be left on the elevator with just one male person over the age of 10 or so, I'd get off with everyone else & wait for another elevator.

too bad that we live in such dangerous times, but...
we live in such dangerous times.

So when no one was in her way, whatsoever, what does that leave? It was an empty elevator except the two of us who were nowhere near her buttons. And her attitude was she was too good to do it. She exuded that. I'm sure you know the type I mean ;)

Mostly, I was kidding. I am the type of person to push a button. I simply hesitated a good long moment when all those silly answers popped in my head, and then the other lady stepped up to the plate, but I probably would've done it anyhow.

One time in my life I can think of where riding an elevator made me really uncomfortable. I'm not sure any place is safe when there's a bad person on board? Sure didn't feel safe. I was really happy to get off. Seems like I got off on the wrong floor and hit the stairs right after they kept going.

I work with an international bunch, and North Americans are the ones so picky about where to stand. Everyone else seems to care little about personal space. Asian and European, from Argentina to Kyrgyzstan. They don't have our silly affect for hiding in corners. My favorite one personal space issue at work is a German who stands so close, he rubs against arms. Male and female and does nothing to make you think he's doing anything wrong. He's really not. He's just freer than we are.

People sometimes remind me that we haven't been out of the bush very long. You see it whenever people have to wait for something -- a bus, train, elevator, the doors to open for a movie or a ship's midnight buffet. Some will closely resemble hogs at feeding time. Me! Me! Me!

The gate attendant calls first class passengers and *everybody* rises and crowds around the gate. Moo! Moo! (My solution is 'pens' that are only opened as that section is summoned!)

Speaking of elevators.....years and years ago I was taking a class after work downtown. One evening I was entering the building where the class took place and noticed a rather "off-looking" fellow entered the building behind me. I didn't recognize him as a classmate, and most offices in the building would have been closed for the day. I got into the elevator and he followed me in. We were the only ones onboard. I just had a funny feeling..........right before the doors closed, I jumped out of the car, doors closed and off he went inside. Who knows what might have happened. Prob. nothing but I decided to go with my gut. That incident has stuck in my mind over the years and still is kind of chilling.

When I get in an elevator at the hospital, I always stand in front of the buttons and ask folks as they get on which floor they would like. They always thank me. I enjoy pushing the buttons.
Many moons ago, when I lived and worked in San Fran, I worked on the 11th floor. I quickly learned elevator etiquette on crowded elevators. When the elevator you are waiting for opens its doors, gentlemen step aside and allow ladies to enter first. Same thing when the elevator stops on various floors. Gentlemen step aside. When I was in the back and it stopped on my floor, I just said "Excuse me" and folks stepped aside.

momrox, that's exactly the scenario in Gavin de Becker's book, The Gift of Fear.

When he taught a safety course for women, he would describe that scenario (elevator stops, only one man inside), & ask the women what they'd do.

Of course, they all said they wouldn't get on the elevator...
'cause we know how to give the right answers!

but, he says, all too often, our "niceness" & our argumentative left brain get the better of us, & we don't want the guy to think we think he looks creepy, & we can't find a "logical" reason to feel uneasy.

so we get on the elevator.

His lesson is that the perceptive right brain is millions of years old & it knows what it's doing;
listen to your instinct!