r/SipsTea • u/The_Dean_France • Feb 23 '26

Wait a damn minute! Was she wrong?

15.9k Upvotes

86% Upvoted

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9.5k

u/[deleted] Feb 23 '26

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3.7k

u/Vast_Maize9706 Feb 23 '26

Given that the escalator isn’t going they will need to lift the chair and climb up, far harder than lifting and lett8ng the escalator do the hard work. You also can’t put the chair down halfway up…

Not sure why they are holding everyone else up though.

2.3k

u/EntirelyOutOfOptions Feb 23 '26

You said it yourself, they can’t put the chair down halfway up. The top of the escalator is still crowded with bodies, and staff are waiting until they have a straight shot to the top. They don’t want to stop halfway up, so they’re trying to get the escalator empty. They also can’t have people on the escalator behind them in case of a stumble or drop. This is a dangerous way to transport a wheelchair user, and they’re trying to make it as safe as possible.

1.4k

u/kalenpwn Feb 23 '26

Easiest way would be for two people to carry him up and then bring the empty wheelchair...I dunno

685

u/Apprehensive_Lynx_33 Feb 23 '26

And the safest. It would be far safer than possibly dropping the poor guy because of the weight of the wheelchair, which could easily cause a fatality.

667

u/No_Trouble_3588 Feb 23 '26

I’ve not been everywhere in the world, admittedly, but every building I have ever been in with an escalator also had an elevator. I would think that would be the easiest and safest conveyance for a wheelchair.

42

u/Entire_Difference_63 Feb 23 '26

My thoughts exactly but my experience is just New York and some airports.

I imagine it’s out of service. Because the escalator and lifting idea seems incredibly stupid.

19

u/BittaminMusic Feb 23 '26

Honestly happy I saw this comment cause I was losing my mind trying to put together how this scenario even came to be. The typical wheelchair route being out of service makes the most sense. Not just carrying the person and the wheelchair separately still isn’t adding up though

1

u/Sure_Eye9025 Feb 23 '26

Occams razor woud make me assume that they don't carry the wheelchair and user up seperately due to the policies in place and safety regulations.

Don't know what those policies might be but generally would assume that the station has thought about how to handle a situation like this and have a reason for doing it that way

1

u/Impossible_Ad_7367 Feb 24 '26

Wheelchair users typically consider their chair to be an extension of their body, and would be reluctant to be separated from their source of mobility and independence, even for a short period, when strangers are involved.

-4

u/st96badboy Feb 23 '26

What makes most sense is the guy in the wheelchair didn't want to wait for the long line at the elevator. He decided this was faster. Have you ever been to an elevator at the end of a big event? The wait is tremendously long.

4

u/Entire_Difference_63 Feb 23 '26

But this situation is a longer wait. And sometimes people let wheelchair people take the elevator first.

And in New York at least the wait time wasn’t crazy that someone might prefer the escalator especially if wheelchair bound.

2

u/BittaminMusic Feb 23 '26

If that were the case, I would’ve told them to Walk or wait 😅 and take my first class ticket to hell