A few weeks ago, I was going to work and there were several employees entering the studio at the same time I was. In front of me was a young lady. She went in through the door first with her pass card and I went in after her.
After walking a bit, she and I both arrived at the elevators. I assumed since she got to them first, she would press the button to call the elevator. What she did next surprised me. Instead of pushing the button for the elevator, she started pushing the round area where the fire department inserts a key to manually control the elevators. You can see an example of this key entry on this web page. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. The actual button to call the elevator is right there. It looks like a button, not a place to put a key. How could you mess this up? Hadn’t she taken the elevator before?
She must have realized what she was pressing wasn’t the button, since it didn’t give. What she did next was even more odd. The wall along the elevators is a decorative one, with all these crazy metal designs on it. I guess the wall is attached and fixed in place with what looks like these large rivets, some of which are placed near the frame of the elevator door. Well, for some reason, she started pushing one of these rivets, thinking it was the elevator call button! Why would anyone think that the button would be located near the top of the elevator door frame, off to one side?
In my lifetime, I’ve gone to a lot of buildings and approached elevator banks where I have never been to before. I’m pretty sure that 100% time, I figured out where the elevator call button is. And even if I didn’t I’m pretty sure I’m not pressing rivets and places where keys go. Elevator call buttons are usually designed to look like they can be pressed. They’re put in central and easy to reach areas.
Anyways, by this time, I was getting impatient and I wasn’t interested in seeing what else she was going to try to press to get the elevator. I politely stepped around her and pressed the real button so that I could get where I needed to go. I made sure not to look at her and embarrass her any further. The elevator arrived about ten seconds later, we both went in and to my utter shock, she was able to press the button for my floor without any trouble.
When we both arrived at my floor, she kept walking to the other part of the studio, so I’m not sure which team she works on. Did she really not know how to call that elevator? Didn’t she see how other people called it the other times she went to work? Even if she was new to the company, it’s pretty easy to know how elevators work, right? Who is this young lady that doesn’t know how buttons work?