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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To think that you shouldn't use the lift unless you actually need to?

346 replies

Ems101 · 27/08/2011 23:18

So I was in a well known department store today (ok it was John Lewis!) and now that I am a mummy I find myself having to take the lift between floors as I have a pram with my 3 month old in. In this particular store they also have escalators and stairs between the floors, but the escalators are too narrow to safely get a pram up them, and I don't think it's reasonable to heave a pram up a flight of stairs. The escalators and stairs (which are next to each other) are at the front of the store, easy to find, easy to see, and if you are able bodied and not pushing a pushchair or carrying a heavy load, quite safe to use.

So WHY when I go to find the lift (which is at the back of the store, and I had to actually look at the signs to find it as I've never taken it before) do I find a couple with a pushchair waiting (perfectly reasonably of course, they had a baby too) and then a family of four with two children who were easily both over the age of 8, all of whom did not appear to be disabled as were standing up and seemed able to walk pefectly fine as they shoved past me to get in the lift before me so that it was then too full for me to go in, and I then had to wait again for the lift to come back.

Would it not be reasonable for me to expect that once they saw someone who actually needed the lift, they should have either let me go first or walked the 30 metres or so to the escalators or stairs and gone up them instead?

I know I have no 'right' or 'claim' over the lift, but wouldn't it be the decent thing to not use the lift unless you had to, especially when there are people waiting who don't really have another option but to use it.

Am I being unreasonable?

OP posts:
jellybeans · 28/08/2011 13:45

'
It's not hard taking a buggy with baby in it on an escalator'

It's not allowed on many though. Many have signs up that it is dangerous and not allowed.

TheBride · 28/08/2011 13:51

Yeah, you usually have to casually lurk and then jump on when the security guard's not looking.

PamBeesly · 28/08/2011 13:54

I'm terrified of escalators and really afraid of all heights, if a stairs is steep I'll need someone to hold my hand. I won't shop in a shop unless I know how I can navigate it. This irrational fear has held me back from doing a lot when I was abroad. I had to go to London a few years ago for work and it was a Saturday, I was taking the tube and for some reasons (I still don't know) the walking stairs were closed off. All there was were escalators, I was so panicked, I had to get the tube because I had to make my flight and there was no other way. Luckily there was a lovely man who worked there who stopped the escalators for me and walked me down, he was such a gent. So OP I suppose my point is that some of us are scared witless of stairs/escalators and the lift is the only option.

MightyQuim · 28/08/2011 14:07

But there are people who will make people who have no choice but to use the lift wait JUST because they can't be arsed taking the stairs for 1 or 2 levels when they are more than capable of doing so. The problem is there's no way of telling for certain who those people are.
It's about consideration for others imo. If you are perfectly capable of walking up stairs it's selfish to take up space in a lift that could be used by people who can't take the stairs.

On a separate note all the escalators I've ever seen have had a sign with a pushchair and a red cross through it. I've seen people taking buggies on escalators but I wouldn't do it myself. It's more difficult to maneuver a pushchair of an escalator that simply step off and if you don't time it right you risk causing a pile up of the people behind you.

hmc · 28/08/2011 14:21

Grin at Quints post

activate · 28/08/2011 14:24

Why can't you take a pram on the escalator - you just balance it on the back wheels

if they barged past you they were unreasonable - if they were in front of you - you are

your concept of only those with prams or visibly disabled should use lifts is so unreasonable it's not worth commenting on

SardineQueen · 28/08/2011 14:27

I don't understand why people are accusing the lift users in the OP of laziness when the alternative was not stairs, it was an escalator Hmm

(Although I'm sure meglet would have been able to find the staff only access stairs out the back Grin)

halcyondays · 28/08/2011 14:31

I've been using a buggy for 5 years and sometimes you have to wait for the lift if there are people in front of you. Unless somewhere is really busy, you will only have to wait a couple of minutes before it comes back, so what's the problem? I would rather wait for the lift than try to take a buggy on the escalator, I think people are mad to do that, it's not safe.

MightyQuim · 28/08/2011 14:32

Have a look by the emergency button next time you get on. You're not supposed to take prams on escalators although no-one polices it as far as I've seen. It's just unnecessarily risky. I saw a mum lose her grip on a pram coming down an escalator in TKMaxx once. Unluckily for her (and the baby in the pushchair) she didn't have anyone in front of her. It was enough to put me off.

joric · 28/08/2011 14:38

:o @ sardine!!!

ChaoticAngeloftheUnderworld · 28/08/2011 14:47

YABU The OP did come across in her op that she was more entitled to use the lift because she has a pram Hmm

CurrySpice · 28/08/2011 16:01

OP I think we would all agree that lifts are for everyone's use and it is nice (but not compulsary) to let people who may have a greater need that ourselves go first

I think we can all now agree that appearances can be deceptive and that some people may have conditions or reasons which make it necessaery for them to use a lift even if they don't necessary look to you like they might

I think we have also all agreed that being a "mummy" doesn't give you rights necessarily

I think you might also lean one final bit of info - you'll get a much better resposne here if you don't post as of you have a big stick up your arse and get a sense of humour.

BimboNo5 · 28/08/2011 16:10

Why are people rambling on about 'no wonder people are fat' in regards to using lifts? Does that mean skinny people who use lifts are ok, as its not contributing to the obesity epidemic? Many skinny people are lazy buggers and lards like me fitter than a lot of thin people! Grr

NorfolkBroad · 28/08/2011 16:23

Actually BimboNo5 I wholeheartedly agree with you on that. Being skinny does not always mean you are fit at all. I am bigger than loads of my friends but I do tons of exercise etc.

NasalCoffeeEnema · 28/08/2011 17:18

skinny people who use lifts are ok because you can fit more of them in Wink

PestoCaffeinisto · 28/08/2011 17:21

YABU

whackamole · 28/08/2011 17:41

It is rude to push past you - but YABU. It used to irritate me trying to get my newborn twins into a tiny little lift for the FIFTH time running as people with 3 year olds in strollers pushed passed me....but they are for everyone's ease not just yours/mine!

MightyQuim · 28/08/2011 18:12

I think the skinny/fat thing comes into it for me because parents who are taking their kids in the lift up 1 or 2 floors when they are perfectly able to walk are probably the same parents who drive to the corner shop etc and they're not great habits to get kids into if you want them to grow up to be fit and healthy.

SardineQueen · 28/08/2011 18:15

But the alternative to the lift was an escalator. It was John Lewis.

I am at a loss to understand how taking an escalator amounts to more exercise than taking a lift Confused

MilaMae · 28/08/2011 18:17

It wasn't the Nottingham one was it because I soooo hear you op.

I remember having to queue literally for over half an hour(with several old age pensioners) in that John Lewis with my newborn twins whilst hoards and hoards of able bodied people trooped in and out of the lift.

Sorry it's pure laziness, nobody other than those with buggies,old people and the disabled need to use them.

YANBU

MilaMae · 28/08/2011 18:19

It's just thinking of others,those that can't go on escalators/stairs or who are too infirm to do so.

joric · 28/08/2011 18:22

Mighty... Have you got your judgey jogging pants on this evening?

GodzillasBumcheek · 28/08/2011 19:11

Milamae - and have you noticed that when you have to start the queue and you've a large buggy, people seem to ignore you're queueing at all and just barge past? Because if you park up in front of the elevator, nobody can get out, and if you politely park next to it, people think you're just randomly posing or something Hmm

MightyQuim · 28/08/2011 20:08

No I don't think the escalator is more exercise I was talking more generally about using lifts rather than stairs. I think it's a habit thing and if you get your kids into lazy habits it's not setting them up very well so I do judge people who take the lift instead of the stairs for no reason and those who drive easily walkable distances.
The exercise thing wouldn't be an issue in the OP's scenario but I do think that IF the people who pushed past her could have used the escalator they should have. Not because they're breaking any law or anything by using the lift just that if you don't need it it's courteous to leave it free for people that do imo.

Sirzy · 28/08/2011 20:29

I have probably missed in as I havent read all 12 pages but if they were waiting when you arrived at the lift then how did they "push past you" surely the polite waiting system was they were there first so go first. If they had offered for you to go first that would have been nice but can't be expected.

And just because someone doesn't look disabled doesn't mean they aren't. I dont look disabled but have arthritis so when my knee is at its worse I use a lift - sorry if that upsets you but I won't stop!