Elevator Up?

The call button on the elevator at my work is broken. Actually, the button is fine, it still calls the elevator, it's just that the light doesn't work. So you push the button and then you can't tell for sure if it's been pressed.

As a result, whenever I approach the elevator and someone else is already there waiting I can't tell if they've actually pressed the button or not... Now clearly they have... They wouldn't be standing in front of the elevator doors waiting for them to open if they hadn't pressed the call button... But because I can't see the little light on the button, I can't totally trust them.

To make things worse it also happens to be the slowest elevator in the Mid-Atlantic region. It's always a long uncomfortable wait. Right up until the point when the elevator finally arrives on our floor and it's door slide open I have to fight off the urge to reach over and press the button myself. You know, just to make sure...

But as uncomfortable as it is to be the one wondering if the other person actually pressed the button, it even worse to be the one who did press the button. For me at least, it's just too much pressure.


I walk up to the elevator with no one else in sight. I press the button. The waiting game begins... I feel someone else approach from behind.


We make eye contact, followed by the polite half-smile.


I watch as their eyes dart towards the call button. "Oh that's right, the light doesn't work," I can see them thinking.


A long pause.


Then the look of distrust. "Did this guy really push the button?"


Eye contact again... I try my best to give a reassuring "yes I really hit the button" look.


And then I wonder, "Wait a second... Did I really push the button?.......... Of course I did....... Well....... What if I didn't press the button hard enough?........... What if I only pushed it in halfway?............ Would it still work if I didn't press it in all the way?.......... I should push the button again, just to make sure........"


Then I stop myself... If I push the button again right now then the other person will think that I never pushed it before... They'll think that I was just standing here like an idiot this whole time.


So I don't push the button again... I just stand there and hope that I really did push the button the first time. And that I pressed it in all the way. And that it will get here soon...