Thursday, July 27, 2006
How to be an advanced lift user
Tip 1: When approaching a single lift (i.e. not in a bank of lifts) on one of the middle floors of a building, watch the indicator sign as you approach. If the lift is one or less floors away, and travelling in the wrong direction, do not press the call button until after it has passed your floor.
The logic behind this is that sometimes the lift will stop at your floor, but then proceed onwards in the same (undesired) direction (when passengers inside have already pressed several buttons). You have the opportunity to get in at that point, when the lift first stops. Pressing the button prematurely will only delay your journey, by causing the lift to stop at your floor a second time as it travels in the opposite direction to your desired destination floor.
This tip can also be used successfully at the penultimate floor of a tall building, even at a bank of lifts, when most lifts are busy in the lowest floors.
Tip 2: When you are at a bank of lifts you should rarely get in when the lift is indicating that it is due to travel on in the wrong direction. However, particularly on the ground floor, you can sometimes get into a lift that intends to go down to the basement, and instead cause it to travel upwards.
The trick is to carefully watch all the indicator signs on all the lifts. If two lifts arrive at once, both intending to go down, step into any one that has no passengers, (and crucially one in which the "basement" button has not been pressed by pesky kids). It is due to collect passengers waiting in the basement, but can usually be commandeered. Hold the door open, until the other lift reaches the basement. Now press your desired upwards floor, and often your lift will rise upwards.
These are my two top tips for lift/elevator power users. I'm curious to know if anyone else has any sneaky tricks.
The logic behind this is that sometimes the lift will stop at your floor, but then proceed onwards in the same (undesired) direction (when passengers inside have already pressed several buttons). You have the opportunity to get in at that point, when the lift first stops. Pressing the button prematurely will only delay your journey, by causing the lift to stop at your floor a second time as it travels in the opposite direction to your desired destination floor.
This tip can also be used successfully at the penultimate floor of a tall building, even at a bank of lifts, when most lifts are busy in the lowest floors.
Tip 2: When you are at a bank of lifts you should rarely get in when the lift is indicating that it is due to travel on in the wrong direction. However, particularly on the ground floor, you can sometimes get into a lift that intends to go down to the basement, and instead cause it to travel upwards.
The trick is to carefully watch all the indicator signs on all the lifts. If two lifts arrive at once, both intending to go down, step into any one that has no passengers, (and crucially one in which the "basement" button has not been pressed by pesky kids). It is due to collect passengers waiting in the basement, but can usually be commandeered. Hold the door open, until the other lift reaches the basement. Now press your desired upwards floor, and often your lift will rise upwards.
These are my two top tips for lift/elevator power users. I'm curious to know if anyone else has any sneaky tricks.
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