Close door buttons do work, but there's a few catches. They don't normally operate immediately. If the door is programmed to close after 45 seconds with no press and 25 seconds with a press, and you press it after 10 seconds, you'll still have to wait another 15, but not another 35. During peak usage times, it may be programmed to ignore the button all together, to prevent people from shutting out those running to the door. At night they tend to be more responsive. An elevator programmer can program it to be ignored completely, but in the buildings I've worked in, it's usually the first case. After 8 years, if you're a geek, you'll start timing this kind of crap out. Elevator programming comes as highly secure trade secrets, most programmers will not tell you all the tricks to how it works. You can actually buy a game that simulates it called SimTower from Maxis.
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They don't normally operate immediately.
If the door is programmed to close after 45 seconds with no press and 25 seconds with a press, and you press it after 10 seconds, you'll still have to wait another 15, but not another 35.
During peak usage times, it may be programmed to ignore the button all together, to prevent people from shutting out those running to the door.
At night they tend to be more responsive.
An elevator programmer can program it to be ignored completely, but in the buildings I've worked in, it's usually the first case. After 8 years, if you're a geek, you'll start timing this kind of crap out.
Elevator programming comes as highly secure trade secrets, most programmers will not tell you all the tricks to how it works. You can actually buy a game that simulates it called SimTower from Maxis.