People using lifts

[Aquarius1619]

I’m actually a bit annoyed at myself for being petty enough to post this.
But this really got under my skin today!! I have an 11 month old who isn’t keen on the pram, will sit in there for 15 minutes or so but as soon as I stop moving she has a meltdown.
So we were waiting for the lift as we were parked on floor 5 in the local shopping mall today and I was stood behind a queue of people waiting to use the lift. People with no shopping, no kids, just didn’t want to use the stairs. And it took 20 minutes for me to get in the lift because each time it would come to my floor it was full of people with no kids, no wheelchairs, no walking sticks so then we’d wait for the next one then one of the people in front of me with nothing to carry would get in it. I know every disability isn’t visible either but FFS I’m talking a load of people here. By the time some of them had eventually got in the lift it would’ve been quicker for them to have walked up and down the whole place! Meanwhile DD is having a meltdown because we’d been stood around for ages. Is it unreasonable to expect people to just use the stairs and free up the lifts for people who actually need them? If I have no pram with me I always use the stairs

@ScarlettBlaize, ha! I totally agree re: the Tate Modern. I have singlehandedly improved the (colloquial) language skills of vast swathes of French/Italian/Spanish students during our lift encounters at the gallery. And I could probably write my own bestseller based on the ‘French women don’t get fat.’ myth, along the lines that French women don’t seem to do bloody stairs. Ever.

If this thread is anything to go off I think we can start assuming that 90% of the population have walking difficulties. Who knew!

I find it weird no one let you on. I remember being in Primark on my own and not being able to use the lifts because they were constantly stuffed with prams!

@SistersOfPercy Im the opposite - up stairs is fine, as I'm reasonably fit for my age and condition but down is agony as my knees don't like bending that far.

YABU as anyone can use a lift, but YANBU to get frustrated waiting. Statistically it's unlikely that everyone had difficulty using stairs though, many probably just couldn't be arsed which is fair enough as they are equally entitled to use it. Makes me laugh at work though where people wait ages for a lift for a flight or 2 of stairs before proclaiming after waiting a bit that they are going to walk. If they did that in the first place people who actually needed them wouldn't have to wait.

YANBU but a bit unrealistic if you expect people on here to read your post properly and take on board what you said about people who need to use a lift. You will just get lots of people frothing about how they look normal but actually have xyz conditions which prevent them using stairs. Understood. But clearly not everyone in that queue were in that position. Five floors isn't so far to go up stairs and I would be embarrassed to take up space in a busy lift when I am perfectly capable of climbing stairs

Put the baby in a carrier, then you're free to use the stairs. Also, if he hates the pram a carrier might be better anyway

I think people without any kind of disability or super heavy things to carry should let prams and wheelchair users go first. Or elderly. It’s just the decent thing to do. YANBU

You are not speshul because you have a baby, fucking queue like the rest of us.

Eg nothing stopping you using a sling and walking yourself to leave the lift for those with actual health problems.

The lifts are not specifically for any group and quite frankly if I was goibg 5 floors I would probably get the lift even if I have to queue with huffy entitled folk.

People who can use stairs should use stairs, it's good for you!

My knees are shot, some days, I really just can't cope with stairs. You wouldn't necessarily know to look at me though. And having a stroppy kid doesn't give you first dibs on lifts.

I'd far rather be bouncing down multiple flights of stairs than stuck in a lift with three buggies with screaming toddlers in them. But I'm lumbered, too.

^ this

I look fine to you OP but would give anything to be able bodied again like you and able to walk even 2 flights of stairs without suffering.

Idiopathic subglottic stenosis. It’s rare disease day maybe look this one up. A condition that affects mainly women. Often starts in your 30s or 40s. I believe mine was triggered by pregnancy. Basically narrow airway and your airway keeps closing despite surgery to open it. I looked fine, could walk on flat fine but couldn’t walk up stairs at all. I attempted at work once when the lift broke and they wanted to call an ambulance. I used to get so many dirty looks using lifts. Women are often dismissed by Drs as having asthma. Same as when I used disabled loo when had tracheostomy tube in I needed to clean. Not all Disability is visible.

The thing is, if you have an 11 month old and no disability you could presumably use a sling and the stairs. Which makes it a little ironic that you think you should get first dibs on the lift in a queue of people, some of whom may well not have that option.

No emmy, people you can should if they want to, whatever benefits come with their chosen option really is their business and not yours.

If I am out in a 5 story shopping mall on a day out and I would rather use the lift having traipsed around all day, possibly with loads of bags, then yes I will use the lift. If there is a queue and I'm only going one floor then I would probably use the stairs. Going down and a queue and no bags etc will probably use the stairs, but as an adult I am quite capable to make my own decision on which option I take.

Yeah... meanwhile, I am 47, slim, (and look a bit younger and fitter than I actually am - not blowing my own trumpet - it’s relevant) was at the hospital Pressing the button in the lift, when a DOCTOR told me off for getting the lift up only one floor. Boy did he cop it! I told him that it was the middle of a long, hot summer and I have Ehler’s-Danlos Syndrome and Mitral Valve problems and was on my way in to see my cardiologist about my postural tachycardia. If he wanted to find me passed out in the fucking stairwell then I’d take his sound medical advice, or perhaps he could learn something about prejudice and keep his stupid opinions to himself. Two nurses in the lift snickered.

Justilou1 good on you 🌺

So your point is that some people have more right to use lift than others. I think YABU on this one, people choose using lift for various reasons and they are all valid. Good for you using the stairs on your own. I wouldn’t take my DD to the shopping center in the pram if she’s unhappy about it but you did as you needed to do some shopping, fair enough.
Sometimes I use lift sometimes I don’t. I might do it because I feel perfectly fine but prefer to save my energy for walking later or might be just tired. It’s not medical condition or disability but fair enough reason imo.
I also wonder what were other options because some staircases in car parks could be really uncomfortable.

I have pots. One small flight of stairs raises my pulse from a resting rate of 55 to 135-140bpm. 5 flights would have me on my knees. To look at me you wouldn’t know I was disabled.

Why do people have to have a reason to use a lift? Maybe they just want to. Maybe they are just lazy - that’s my reason. I’m perfectly fit and well but there are times when I am just lazy. So what? It’s not a crime. They were there before you. Just deal with it like an adult. Or leave your kid at home with his other parent next time or shop online then you won’t have this “problem”.

Not all disabilities are visible or obvious. Look at all the CF disability badge threads. I have a friend who is my age who has end-stage cystic fibrosis. It’s obvious now, but in her 20’s and 30’s it wasn’t. She was abused when she parked in disabled parks. She could barely walk 100m without being out of breath - on a good day. It would take her days to recover, but being seemingly “normal” was vital for her psychological well-being. Assumptions and opinions are weapons in the hands of the wrong people.

its all irrelevant, the lifts are for EVERYONE, so EVERYONE is entitled to use it, you like every other parent can use the time to train your child in behaving and waiting quietly, just like the rest of us had to do with our children, your child is no more special than anyone else waiting to use or using the lift and neither are you... sorry its a hard lesson most of us have learnt already ... no one is more entitled than anyone else

YANBU. It's a particular problem where I am and there are perfectly good escalators available, but many people will take the lift because it's marginally closer, and disregarding anyone with strollers, wheelchairs, luggage or are obviously older. The signs say quite clearly to give preference to all these, but no one cares.

Get the lift going up, then come down again?

I wouldn't choose to walk five floors in a dodgy car park.
Quite reasonable to expect people with screaming children not to ram them into a lift for others to endure.

I don’t have a walking stick or look disabled in anyway and I can walk/run on level ground. I chipped my kneecap receptions I need physio to help. The pain I endure for one flight of stairs is awful (bastard 3 storey house) so I’ll be in that lift.