Elevator Issues

It seems like I have an over-abundance of issues with the elevator. In general, I do not like chit chat with people I don’t know and I specifically don’t like it in the elevator when I’m riding to work in the morning. Accordingly, when I walk into the building in the morning and people are waiting with the doors open for the elevator to leave, I often walk around the corner as if I plan to take the stairs. After I hear the doors shut, I come back around and catch an empty elevator. Obviously, it’s a weird habit but it makes me more comfortable.

This morning, I walked in the doors of my building and saw an elevator full but the doors were shutting. I thought that I was safe but, just before the doors shut, one of the women recognized me and put her purse in the door so I could catch it. It was clearly a nice gesture on her part but, instead of saying thanks, I just mumbled something about intending to the catch the next one and reluctantly stepped inside.

One of the people in the elevator was holding a mystery dessert and two of the other people were commenting about how the dessert holder would need to share with others. Exactly the kind of talk I like to avoid. Everyone happened to get off on a floor a couple down from mine, it was a relief until I realized that someone else was getting on.

Of course, the new person said, “Good morning.” I mumbled something back and then immediately felt bad for not being nicer. So, much more exuberantly than my mumbled response, I said, “How are you today!” It was readily apparent that I had startled the person so I stared at the floor. Thinking that the next stop was mine, I got off and started walking to my office. When I rounded the corner, I realized that, in my hurry to get out of the elevator, I had gotten off a floor too soon. I didn’t bother trying to catch the elevator; I just walked the final flight of stairs.