Elevator Stares
20Nov2006
I ride an elevator every day. (Oops, in proper English, I should say I take the lift each day). Anyway, it is probably the slowest ride in the world, taking at least 5 minutes to climb four stories.
The problem with riding in elevators is that everyone always tries to avoid your stare – or is it just my stare they try to avoid? They look down, They look up. They watch the floor progress indicator like it’s the most interesting thing they have ever seen. And they don’t have any dreaded muzak to avidly listen to, either.
I rebel against all that. You see, I am one of those “elevator talkers”. I cannot ride the four floors without speaking to my travelling companion(s), even if it is just the obligatory comment about the weather.
Do they hate me for it? I am sure some do. But I am also sure that some really want to speak but just can’t get up enough courage in the two floors before they get off, so I am providing them with a valuable service.
Until the day they put me in a straightjacket, that is…
hmm… culture difference could it be? What you do is very British i think (especially the weather part). People here in Taiwan also don’t talk to strangers in a lift/elevator. We’d avoid eye-contact with strangers too. When I was in England, I was shocked when people said ‘Hi ya, you alright!’ to me, wondering if I actually knew this person, which was highly unlikely. Took me a while to figure out it’s actually British thing and got used to it. Now back to Taiwan, kindda miss that particular way to say hi to strangers.
oh, sorry, forgot to mention that i really like your blog. Probably something to with the fact that you remind me a lot about the British. Cannot really say I like them a lot, but they certainly have their charm, especially the sense of humour of theirs.
Nah, they don’t hate you but perhaps they’ll stare in astonishment that you’ve actually broken some unwritten rule on elevator etiquette