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Theresa Christy, a mathematician who works for Otis Elevator Co (they probably power your building), told the WSJ that once you press a button and wait for the elevator, it takes about 20 seconds before you start getting impatient and annoyed.
Is that it? Or is that on the long side? If I imagine a 20-second count in my head, it seems on the long side. But if I can see the elevator light up the floors, maybe it’s not so long. What do you guys think?
Christy actually revealed a lot of interesting tidbits about elevators and how they work and solve problems with math. Like how to tweak elevator speed to accommodate more rides, how many people squeeze into elevators in Western Countries versus Asia and how she uses a computer simulation program that replays elevator decision making (like a video game!) to analyse what to do. Read more about elevators than you ever have here. [WSJ via Kottke, Image Credit: motodan/shutterstock]
It takes me 3.
I takes me the mere sight of an elevator’s closed doors. I immediately start feeling the urge to blow it with bombs!
Ok maybe it has something to do with the fact that my DNA is 1/4 basque and my surname ends with “ETA” (no joke).
5 seconds for me, then I have to kill a man
Did I say 3?
I meant none.
And then I bite the throats out of guide dogs.
I have to warm up to killing a man by killing a lady 6 seconds before, so that’s before I get to the lift.
I call Pearoast – this data is well known and has been studied extensively for decades by the people who design lifts and the buildings they go in (did I mention I used to be an an architect?)
What is more interesting is that the easiest way to extend the patience of the waiting lift passengers is to install a mirror by the lift door. This increases their tolerance to whole minutes. So yes, just monkeys after all.