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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

Lift Etiquette- warning Judgy Pants well and truly hoiked up

68 replies

LordOfTheFlies · 14/05/2011 18:34

In fact Judgy Pants were so high up in a wedgie they were over my lower jaw and tongue in a Scolds Bridle fashion.Just as well as DD doesn't really want to see her mother lose the plot.
Okay. Today,town centre Sainsburys, 4 storey car-park.Escalator and travelator to floor 1. 3 lifts., one which is for trolleys not customers.One not working: one in use.
Full trolley waiting for lift, theres a couple of women with buggies, some who didn't look so mobile but a fair few with 1 or 2 small bags who could use the stairs.
I know you can't tell just by looking if someone has got any disabilities but these were the 'tutting' and abusing the trolley collector ones who eventually went up the stairs ( because they got bored waiting not because of their conscience pricking them)
I may well be Unreasonable but I really wanted to tell them to get the bloody stairs leave the lifts free for those who need them
Happens all the time and just today it really hacked me off.
runs away and puts on full suit of armour.With shin pads

OP posts:

dementedma · 14/05/2011 23:15

someone earlier mentioned buggies which fold up and take up little space. I had one of those.
Today we took DS to a science fair thing where lots of the workshops were in marquees and it was very crowded. Lost count of the number of times I fell over, had ankles bruised, was pushed out of the way by women with ridiculous HUGE bloody buggies for one teeny weeny baby! It's all just a statement - look at me and my fuck you buggy. Get out of my way because my baby is special and I can afford to spend hundreds of pounds on an unnecessarily huge buggy which gets in everyone's way!!!
I don't have a problem with the babies themselves - spent a lovely few minutes having my finger grasped by a serious baby called Toby who had eyelashes to die for! . But, like the lifts, some people take up an inordinate amount of space for no real reason.

theanonamouse · 15/05/2011 10:22

i am one of those people in the lift with 2 bags that look like i should be going up the stairs because i am in my early 20s and i generally do but i have severe forms of arthritis and sometimes cant be bothered to deal with the severe pain it causes to use the stairs

i always get tutted at and muttered under my breath about with mums with 4/5 year old children in pushchairs that i should take the stairs just so they can use the lift and i feel like i ahould smack them with a doctors note saying im disabled (although i do not look it i am far too polite)

so basically stop judging lifts are not there for people with pushchairs as loads of people mentioned they were introduced for disabled people so stop feeling entitled to use them and wait like everyone else

Icelollycraving · 15/05/2011 10:29

Lifts are not exclusively for disabled people or you would be flashing a badge!
If someone is feeling knackered & can't manage the stairs,well that's fine. Respect the people around you enough to let disabled,pushchairs,pregnant ladies go first & simply wait. It's not worth judgey pants is it??

diddl · 15/05/2011 10:30

TBH, I thought that "lift etiquette" was "first come, first served" iyswim.

TrillianAstra · 15/05/2011 10:35

How about this.

Instead of telling people they should use the stairs because they are lazy arses and not disabled or with children, why doesn't anyone in the know suggest that they might want to use the stairs because it'll be faster.

"Oh its getting busy and hospital lifts are notoriously slow. Can anyone who can use the stairs do so"

changes to this

"Oh its getting busy and hospital lifts are notoriously slow. If you are able to use the stairs you'll find it much faster."

In the first scenario you are telling people to use the stairs because it will make things easier for you.

In the second you are giving people information that will make things easier for them.

Hammy02 · 15/05/2011 10:41

Eh? I have never ever even thought about whether I am more or less entitled to use a lift than anyone else. I didn't realise lifts were deemed an easier option that escalators. Or escalators deemed easier than stairs. I just use whatever is closest. Wow. Learn something new every day.

DilysPrice · 15/05/2011 10:49

Both the Science Museum and Tate Modern have signs saying please use the stairs if you can so that the lifts are available for people who really need them.
Jolly good idea, because I think lots of people just use a lift automatically because they see it there. If you prompt them to think about it then many would say "Oh, actually I could do with the exercise".

I have a bee in my bonnet about modern office design, which puts the lifts front-centre and hides the stairs away in a corner so you end up using lifts for a single floor for no good reason. But that's a whole 'nother rant.

CointreauVersial · 15/05/2011 10:54

I sometimes use a lift if I find myself near one, simply because I am a lazy cow.

But if a buggy/wheelchair/person with a walking stick etc. came along behind me I would always let them go ahead of me, even if it meant I had to wait for the next lift.

Simple courtesy.

jasminetom · 15/05/2011 13:49

I always use a lift even if I am not carrying anything. I hate escalators and why bother taking the stairs when you don't have to? What's it got to do with you? And I don't need the wanky Science Museum to educate me thanks. "Oh actually I could do with the exercise" Sod that, I go to the gym 5 days a week and swim in the sea almost every day after work because I choose to not because some patronising little twat makes a sign that tells me should do it. Next you will call it a lifestyle choice.
Sorry but that kind of crap really annoys me.

LadyClariceCannockMonty · 15/05/2011 13:52

Shaky ground. As someone says upthread, M.E. and similar are undetectable by looking but friends of mine who have it could not possibly climb up and down stairs. Also, I am the sort of person who takes the stairs whenever possible and feels really smug and healthy about it but not everyone is, and that's fine. Waiting a few minutes for a lift is not the end of the world.

worraliberty · 15/05/2011 13:57

Why didn't you use the travelator with your trolley?

DilysPrice · 15/05/2011 14:18

OK Jasmine, you've thought about it and decided you don't need the exercise, and would rather take the lift, and that other people can just wait their turn.

But I think lots of people don't think about it at all - they see a lift in front of them and take it on autopilot, and a very gentle prompt to let people who really need it have priority will achieve results that will do everyone good.

LessonsinL · 15/05/2011 18:16

I doubt the majority of people waiting for this lift had M.E., severe arthritis or cancer, but were just lazy buggers. YABU for wanting lazy people to get the stairs, but you are NBU for thinking that lifts should be for people who are dis-abled in any way.

bupcakesandcunting · 15/05/2011 20:28

"But I think lots of people don't think about it at all - they see a lift in front of them and take it on autopilot, and a very gentle prompt to let people who really need it have priority will achieve results that will do everyone good."

My mother does this. "Oh, a lift. That'll save me legs" Yes mother. It's there to convenience you. Just be grateful that you can use your legs, not like lots of people who have NO CHOICE but to use the lift because they are in a wheelchair agggggggggh.

Gipfeli · 16/05/2011 11:34

YANBU.

I absolutely cannot understand why anyone would willingly get a lift if they didn't need to. You always have to wait for ages and it's full of people all jammed in together and then you have to squeeze around people to get out. Horrible horrible experience. I was so pleased when I didn't need to use the buggies for the kids and so didn't feel I had to use the lifts.

rey · 16/05/2011 11:42

YABU B U T a few years ago I would have been the same with the judgey pants. I am struggling at the moment as I am leaving the one and only working lift at our multi-storey carpark for those with buggies and the elderly etc. To everyone I look normal as I hide the pain in my arthritic knee as I use the stairs and at home I wait as long as I can before popping another pill in the hope it helps me sleep a little better that night. Was very tempted to give in the other day but didn't but don't know how long I will continue to be able to - the other lifts have been out of action for over a month.

CrapBag · 16/05/2011 12:35

TBH lift etiquette is first come first serve and thats it. I do have M.E. and a pram so have a reason to use it but I wouldn't expect people to give way to anyone who is disabled etc. If you got there first, you get in. Simple.

What I hate is people trying to push in with their prams etc because they feel they are entitled when you have been waiting longer than them.

nokissymum · 16/05/2011 12:43

I have a very bad shoulder which affects my neck, I can't carry anything for too long in my hands, and shopping bags are a big no no, I however do often carry one or two shopping bags but only to very short distances, if my local telco had a lift I would definitely use it.

On the outside I look as fit as a fiddle.

You may also consider the possibility of shopper being in early stages of pregnancy.

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