the sweet life » Vertical Transportation

Vertical Transportation

Apr-23 » Filed Under: Whatever » Posted by: Todd

I'm not sure why, but the subject of elevators - specifically the rituals regarding rider behavior - has always intrigued me. Why do people stand where they do when there is more than one person in the elevator with them? Anywho, it seems a writer at The New Yorker magazine had similar questions and decided to write a lengthy article on the topic. Here's one part I thought was particularly interesting:

Passengers seem to know instinctively how to arrange themselves in an elevator. Two strangers will gravitate to the back corners, a third will stand by the door, at an isosceles remove, until a fourth comes in, at which point passengers three and four will spread toward the front corners, making room, in the center, for a fifth, and so on, like the dots on a die. With each additional passenger, the bodies shift, slotting into the open spaces. The goal, of course, is to maintain (but not too conspicuously) maximum distance and to counteract unwanted intimacies--a code familiar (to half the population) from the urinal bank and (to them and all the rest) from the subway. One should face front. Look up, down, or, if you must, straight ahead. Mirrors compound the unease. Generally, no one should speak a word to anyone else in an elevator. Most people make allowances for the continuation of generic small talk already under way, or, in residential buildings, for neighborly amenities. The orthodox enforcers of silence--the elevator Quakers--must suffer the moderates or the serial abusers, as they cram in exchanges about the night, the game, the weekend, or the meal.

So true. I also liked this tidbit:

In most elevators, at least in any built or installed since the early nineties, the door-close button doesn't work. It is there mainly to make you think it works. (It does work if, say, a fireman needs to take control. But you need a key, and a fire, to do that.) Once you know this, it can be illuminating to watch people compulsively press the door-close button. That the door eventually closes reinforces their belief in the button's power. It's a little like prayer. Elevator design is rooted in deception--to disguise not only the bare fact of the box hanging by ropes but also the tethering of tenants to a system over which they have no command.

Another subject of the article is Nicholas White, who was trapped in an elevator alone for 41 hours. Amazingly, his ordeal was captured on security video and a time-lapse version accompanies the story. I've embedded it below as well. I wouldn't recommend watching it if you have any type of phobia about elevators.

(via kottke)


Leave a comment

Recent Photos


View All Photos