hate 'em love 'em, but you just can't avoid them!

What's the one place that can make you feel crammy one second and elevated the next?

We've all had our fair share of experiences with them, most likely without the sauciness as in the elevators of Seattle Grace and surely not as in the talking elevator of Private Practice.

What makes something as simple as riding an elevator an unnerving experience at times? What about elevator etiquette?

My present office building has six elevators. There can be nothing more frustrating than getting into an empty elevator only to be joined by people who seem to somehow want to get off at every floor before mine (doesn’t leave them with much of a choice, since I have to get off on the topmost floor... well...) and worse still, is when you have stops on 2 and 5 and a guy gets in on 3 to get to 4! Talk about timing...

I usually punch in my floor number and relax, lean against the wall, get lost in my thoughts. Mundane thoughts float in my head…the BOK's I should have got started on last week or the 135$ jacket on a rack at Macy's. Often the thought of crashing has crossed my mind and the fact that there seemed to be no emergency phone and also that my own cellphone provider T-Mobile didn't seem to provide service in the elevators further heightened such thoughts until I realized that there was an alarm. Ah! Well for the day when I can press that little white button!

My behavior is always altered based on that of my elevator mate. I'm not one for socializing in an elevator and will not initiate a conversation, but will participate if engaged. Weather seems like a safe subject but I’ve also had people talk about their kids, about their rising mortgages... If I make eye – contact, I hope I have to only smile! or say hi and often while getting off say ‘have a good day’ or something equally benevolent.

In a crowded elevator, I often am simply just waiting to get off and pretend to be preoccupied, stare at the floor as if it’s going to gobble me any second or keep checking the floor numbers as if I don’t already know which floor I’m on. And during some of those long never –ending rides; I’ve even ended up on the wrong floor a couple of times!

Encounter people carrying on loud conversations and in strange languages? To avoid the crowded elevators is as simple as avoiding the peak hours… easier said than done…

Ever wonder the brains behind the elevator, the erratic wait times? I sometimes press the button and guess which one of the elevators is going to take me for a ride, have a 16% chance of being right everytime! Elevator Algorithm was that in PU or Engg. Mathematics.... can’t for the life of me remember when I came across that!

My previous work place had elevators with mirrors on all the walls, get in and distract myself with my narcissism!

Getting to the bottom is never frustrating, getting to the top is always, as everyone seems to want to do just that.