Elevator Etiquette

Did I just use an Americanism? Why yes, yes I did. But only because it rolls off the tongue better than lift etiquette does!

Just to let you know, I have 20 mins MAX left of my shift, and this has only just popped into my head because of a few occurances in lifts today... so if it isn't finished, be prepared for a great big "TO BE CONTINUED" sign!

To continue on the chivalry theme, everyone knows, or should do, that a man is meant to hold a door open for a lady, no matter which direction either of them are going in relation to the building/carriage/door-adorned-area (layman's: in or out). But can the same be applied to a lift/elevator. If a man is in a lift, is it properly polite to hit the hold button if you see a woman approaching, even if you are unsure if they are actually going to be using the lift's services? And does the same apply to a woman, should she hold the doors if she sees a man approaching, or a woman for that matter? Sod it! Should you hold the door when you see someone else approaching even if you are unsure whether or not they are going to use the bloody lift!?

The lift doors were closing on me earlier, and just as there was say, a foot of a gap left, I saw a woman enter the downstairs lobby door, there was no way she was going to reach the button before the doors closed, yet still, in vain, she tried. Handbag in hand, she semi-jogged towards the lift, and to be honest, I chuckled to myself as the doors closed, locked, and the lift started moving.

I am a bastard.