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Original poster

Strangers not social distancing in lifts

74 replies

TobysMum16 · 08/07/2021 14:52

Just got back from a morning shopping in my local town centre and am reeling.
There’s posters everywhere in the centre asking people to social distance / mask wear etc and specifically only 2 households at a time in the lifts.
My friend and I were waiting on a lift to take us up a level to the car park. We both had prams with us so couldn’t use the stairs or escalators. We got on and two other (seemingly able bodied adults) adults tried to push in with us. We politely explained that lift was full and as it was a limit of two households. We then got an earful from both people, telling us to “fuck off” that we were being stupid as everyone’s been vaccinated now (our babies hadn’t of course). Was pretty awful to be honest!
Slightly worried this is a sign of things to come as once restrictions are lifted they will be lots of people who just want to forget anything happened and others (like me) who would appreciate some extra space.

OP posts:

Chillychangchoo · 09/07/2021 09:57

@SmallPrawnEnergy

Oh dear. You sound very angry.

Chillychangchoo · 09/07/2021 09:59

@SmidgenofaPigeon

I have literally just had the same conversation with my son in prep for walking to school on his own in year 7.

The inability to make your own risk assessments is what is truly worrying here.

Common sense severely lacking in many.

AnotherDayAnotherCake · 09/07/2021 10:01

Has happened to me too. We were staying in a hotel, using a small lift with cases.
Signs up everywhere saying one household per lift.
It was already a squeeze for our family, so when another family tried to cram in too we asked them not to.
Honestly, the mouthful they gave us, I can only imagine they had already started ‘holiday drinking’.

4forkssake · 09/07/2021 10:06

I think you're a bit OTT. Waiting for a lift is a PITA & just because they looked 'able bodied' doesn't mean they were. There may have been all sorts of reasons they couldn't use the stairs. And if they'd waited for the next lift, there may have been other people with prams who'd come from another level, meaning they couldn't get in again. There was no need for them to be rude but I certainly wouldn't have questioned them. If your concerned for the future, there's nothing to stop you continuing to wear your mask!

4forkssake · 09/07/2021 10:09

@TobysMum16

To come back and clarify - I was taken aback by their behaviour. Perhaps I have lead a sheltered life, but it shocks me that some many people on here seem to think that it’s normal and okay to be that angry with strangers with only a small amount of provocation. I didn’t collapse on a heap on the floor and it’s certainly not the worse thing that’s ever happened! I’m not massively worried about infection risk either. It was more the fact that it was already a tight spot and I didn’t want some stranger crushed in against me when it was completely unnecessary. As for the fact rules are changing on 19th - yes I know this, but until they do change I expect others to follow them. Once they change maybe I’ll re-think my routes. Obviously I won’t be able to make the same request for space (but that’s progress I guess

) I don’t have health anxiety, but I do know people who do. They do want to take smaller steps back to the pre Covid world. This isn’t something that should just be shrugged off and told to get on with it. Some people have had some horrible experiences during Covid and they aren’t just going to forget about it over night. I keep thinking - what if it had been someone more vulnerable: what if it had been a new mum tentatively taking her baby out for the first time? What if the person had recently lost a family member recently to it and was out for the first time in a while…. I think we all need to show a little more kindness. It costs very little to follow the rule (or if you really can’t at least show respect to those that do for the last couple of weeks).

Maybe if it happens again, you could let the people take the lift & you be the ones who wait for the next one, even if it means you getting out.

MrsSkylerWhite · 09/07/2021 10:12

farfallarocks

“Swearing not on but I would have rolled my eyes inside my head at your antics.”

Antics?

Pointing out a requirement?

MrsArchchancellorRidcully · 09/07/2021 10:15

@TobysMum16

Just got back from a morning shopping in my local town centre and am reeling. There’s posters everywhere in the centre asking people to social distance / mask wear etc and specifically only 2 households at a time in the lifts. My friend and I were waiting on a lift to take us up a level to the car park. We both had prams with us so couldn’t use the stairs or escalators. We got on and two other (seemingly able bodied adults) adults tried to push in with us. We politely explained that lift was full and as it was a limit of two households. We then got an earful from both people, telling us to “fuck off” that we were being stupid as everyone’s been vaccinated now (our babies hadn’t of course). Was pretty awful to be honest! Slightly worried this is a sign of things to come as once restrictions are lifted they will be lots of people who just want to forget anything happened and others (like me) who would appreciate some extra space.

You clearly need to stay at home forever and never go out again 'just in case'. Bedwetter

SleepyMathematician · 09/07/2021 10:18

They should have waited if possible and they should not have sworn. That’s rude and unacceptable.

The problem with lifts when you look able bodied though, is everyone thinks you should wait or take the stairs. So you can end up waiting for pram after pram and for people who more obviously need the lift, and struggling to get in for ages. Not everyone who looks fit to use the stairs can.

TheLovelinessOfDemons · 09/07/2021 10:18

It's one customer per lift in our local one. I can't stay indoors as I have to go shopping, and I don't want my shielding son to catch Covid from me. He doesn't have long left to live as it is. Even mild Covid would kill him.

BertieBotts · 09/07/2021 10:19

The risk is very low because of the amount of time you typically spend in a lift. I would not worry about it.

memberofthewedding · 09/07/2021 10:20

Two people with prams are taking up more than their share of space so you cant expect individual people not to get in as well. They might be disabled or elderly and not able to climb stairs so why should they give way to you just because you choose to have children?

Yesyoucantell · 09/07/2021 10:20

They were very rude but you need to unclench.

TheLovelinessOfDemons · 09/07/2021 10:26

I also can't avoid using the lift if I have DS2 in the disabled child trolley. The supermarket is on the first floor and I obviously can't take him on travelator. Also if I use the café when I'm on my own it's a one-way system, travelator up, lift down.

Mrsjayy · 09/07/2021 10:27

That really is awful, people can be so inconsiderate I've not encountered that level of aggression while using a lift people seem fine to wait in the shopping centre I use.

msbevvy · 09/07/2021 11:56

I visited a major London hospital a few months ago. They had all the precautions upon entering the building, hand sanitiser, compulsory masks, temperature check.
I was very surprised to find that there were no restrictions at all on use of the lifts
People were packed like sardines.

Despite having asthma and walking with 2 sticks I thought that I would try the stairs, even if it took me half an hour to get there (I am ECV and wasn't fully jabbed at the time). It then turned out that the stairs are off limits to patients (this is a tall tower building). No wonder the lifts were so packed.

I was extremely fortunate in that the person who told me about the stairs took me to a staff lift so it was just the 2 of us. I am not keen to go back there anytime soon as I might not be so lucky next time

Original poster

TobysMum16 · 09/07/2021 12:18

[quote SmidgenofaPigeon]@SmallPrawnEnergy you shouldn’t blindly be following what the green man says at all actually. You need to take into account your own risk assessment on whether it’s safe to cross the road. Sometimes this can be achieved even when the man is at red! If there are no cars coming then you don’t have to stand there like a lemon. Teaching your children to blindly trust in the green man is very dangerous. What if a car comes speeding through the lights and they’re halfway across the road because you taught them to only cross when they see the green man?[/quote]
And what about if the cars started making their own risk assessments when they approach junctions too? Well it’s red but looks clear to me? I’m a good driver, so I’ll stop if someone walks out etc.
Rules are there to keep us safe. People (probably with more experience than you) have been paid to design and implement these systems to keep us safer. Not only that but it means that we know what to expect.
At the moment I expect not to be crushed in like a sardine because it’s still the rule to be one meter plus. I don’t get why people who don’t want to follow rules feel more entitled to use public spaces. To me if you decide you want a day out shopping then you need to do as the centre asks.

OP posts:

Chillychangchoo · 09/07/2021 12:35

@TobysMum16

Well your expectations clearly aren’t meeting reality are they?

Maybe have the common sense to comprehend that a large section of society currently aren’t following the “rules”. Therefore it’s not the brightest idea to enter busy shopping centres is it? Particularly when you’re left feeling so mad about it all.

Chillychangchoo · 09/07/2021 12:36

*matching reality

TheVampiresWife · 09/07/2021 12:47

@TobysMum16 genuine question - how will you feel about going to shopping centres in just over a week, when restrictions are lifted? Do you think the risk is greater now than it will be in just a few days' time, when things like masks and SD are no longer enforced/mandatory?

Also many shops have tannoy announcements reminding customers that some people are unable to wear masks or socially distance. Just as you shouldn't assume the (rude) people you encountered were fit and well, you shouldn't assume everyone is as able to SD as you are, or as you would like them to be.

newnortherner111 · 09/07/2021 13:54

The response should have been to ask them to leave or you call the police, deeming their response as threatening behaviour. If it is a car park you could have identified their car registration and called later.

Original poster

TobysMum16 · 09/07/2021 15:44

I’ll carry on the same: avoiding crushing in with strangers were it’s possible to do so. Sometimes it won’t be (especially with having to use the pram) and I won’t be able to ask for the space. I could turn the question on you though: the systems have been in place for months and months but infection rates are rising at the moment and there’s the delta variant etc to contend with. So when and why did you start to break rules. If it comes down to a) can’t be bothered anymore or b) no one else is doing it I’d say that wasn’t a particularly strong argument.

OP posts:

soapboxqueen · 09/07/2021 16:06

Tbh not every lift has this restriction.

I had travelled in a lift and was out before I saw a sign saying only one household/bubble per lift (which means unless you are in a bubble with your friend, you wouldn't have been able to share either in that instance).

There are so many signs up, it's hard to know which ones are necessary to read and which ones are just covid decoration.

Not everyone who looks able bodied actually is.

A set of lifts at our local john lewis is atrocious at the best of times and is needed to get to the car park. It's obviously been fairly quiet recently but if it was only mildly busy and everyone stuck to the one bubble per lift you could be waiting a very long time. Not just a few minutes.

At any rate, they were rude to swear and shout. While covid restrictions should be followed, they are not always overly practical.

TheVampiresWife · 09/07/2021 16:43

@TobysMum16

Is that in answer to my question? If so, what do you mean, when and why did I start breaking the rules?

TheVampiresWife · 09/07/2021 16:47

Slightly worried this is a sign of things to come as once restrictions are lifted they will be lots of people who just want to forget anything happened and others (like me) who would appreciate some extra space

Specifically in response to this, OP - in this situation post-restrictions, given it's you who requires the extra space, the onus will be on you to wait for the next lift/steer clear of people.

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