(no subject)

[annuin]

I think the "Close Door" buttons on elevators are there just to taunt us. I don't think I've ever had the doors respond after pushing one of those buttons, not immediately in the sense that the closing was a result of the button being mashed.

I think the elevator manufacturers can save themselves the trouble, really, of producing the buttons if they don't let them work anyway. Unless of course they watch us on a hidden camera, as we engage in acts of random futility, trying to make the doors close faster...

Comments

[ladyattercop.livejournal.com]

Ha!

It's almost enough to make you want to camp out in front of an elevator for a while and watch people jam the buttons. It would be a similar experience to watching people walk face-first into automatic doors that don't open because the shop is closed.

...

Not that I've ever done that, of course.

[nadya-lev.livejournal.com]

SO TRUE!!!!

[daskreestof.livejournal.com]

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.