Lift riders, be on the lookout. Not everyone knows the basic rules of elevator etiquette that we all should have learned after a few weeks of experience. Those of us working or living in buildings with elevators are in serious danger of falling victim to the following infractions by others. This is just one in a series of rules by which to live.

Articles in this series:

Never hold others up with your talking

If you are having a conversation with someone outside the elevator, and one of you wants to get into the elevator, but the other doesn’t, one of two things should happen.

Either your conversation ends as one of you gets on, or neither of you gets on, and you wait until the conversation is over to board the elevator. Don’t hold the elevator up with ten people on it as you hold the door and continue your all-important conversation. That’s just plain offensive.

The same thing goes when both of you are on the elevator, and only one wants to get off. Don’t hold the door open and continue talking. End the conversation, or both of you get off until the conversation is over. Then, the person who wants to continue up or down can catch the next car.

There’s no reason why others should have to wait for your conversation to end in order to get on with their day. And even if no one else is in the car, you never know if there are people waiting for that car to arrive on another floor. Elevators are happiest when they are in continuous motion.