Regional Indifference

We often write about the many differences we encounter on a daily basis between China and the U.S. However, today we're going to write about something that we've observed as a universal constant ... incessant elevator button pushing.

It doesn't matter if you're in Dallas, New York, Shanghai or Inner Mongolia ... if you're waiting for an elevator, every person who walks up will press the Up or Down arrow, even though it's already lit up. Do people truly believe the more the button is pushed the faster the elevator will come? It's as if they think the elevator is saying to itself "14 people have pressed that button in the last 16.2 seconds, I better hurry my arse up and get down there."

Our favorite (and he exists everywhere also) is "Mr. Multiple Elevator Button Pusher Guy." You know who we're talking about ... it's the guy who pushes the button ... waits ... then pushes the button again ... waits ... and then again. It's like a vicious death spiral that said OCD man can't pull himself out of. There's usually a disgusted huffing and puffing that follows after the third button push before the frustration gets the best of him and he just takes the stairs, or better yet decides to ride the opposite direction in hopes that it will be faster to ride 67 stories up before heading back down to the ground level.

So as you head to work tomorrow and push the elevator button so many times that you hyperextend your finger, you can find solace in the fact there is a little old Chinese man on the other side of world that has just done the exact same thing.