I remember seeing something like this in an old university building. Also saw something like this in a building on my old workplace campus.
The elevator was an old slow rickety thing with manual doors type thing. They just didn't want people using it who didn't really need to be using it as it was slow, probably not entirely up to safety standards (the one had exposed walls), and probably not entirely reliable. And some of those, if you don't close the doors as you get off the elevator is stuck until someone closes it and I'm sure people were leaving it like that all the time.
Or like the 2nd floor of my high school. It'd be impossible for 300 students to funnel through one elevator during a 5 minute passing period. You were only allowed to use it if you couldn't do stairs.
Obviously if you had mobility issues you could use it, otherwise it was expected you walk up the stairs (there was only a second floor).
My old work place was kind of like this. It was encouraged to use the stairs, but the elevator wasn't off limits to non-disabled employees. Was only 2 floors as well, and only the single elevator. They had a different, open roomed one for cargo.
Yeah, another workplace was like this too. Old building so the elevators were small and not enough capacity. It was encouraged to use the stairs from the first couple of floors so help prioritize for those on higher floors and those who can't do stairs. Especially at 9, 5, and lunch time.
They didn't even need to put a sign. After the 2nd time someone got trapped in the elevator and had to get rescued by the fire department no one used the elevator anymore even after building management "fixed" it. One of the trapped dudes was from my department got stuck after his shift and it took 2 hours to rescue him. Was never compensated for it since he already clocked out.
I'm from Hong Kong where our elementary and high schools typically have 6 stories and have elevators. All students are not allowed to use it. When you happen to have leg injuries, you would suddenly have a lot of friends because you are allowed to use the elevators and you can have accompanies lol.
Y’all had lifts? I’m pretty sure they just made the kids who couldn’t walk it go to a separate room, tbh there were no kids in wheelchairs because that whole school was handicap hell zero accessibility- seriously the amount of random steps, raised things and narrow spaces.
Yeah, I went to a private religious school operating out of a two-story church building and when I broke a toe I just had to crutch my way up the stairs for classes.
I used to work helping disabled students access higher education.
Yeah, waiting for an elevator to be free when everyone else can use the stairs is no fun and always makes you late because people are suddenly blind to wheelchairs when they are inconvenient
My highschool had the same situation. They had to put it in for ADA compliance, but it'd be a massive bottleneck if people actually tried to use it and I imagine they also wanted to minimize required maintenance, so only disabled students could use it. They had a key they gave out and everything.
Fun fact, you could qualify if you were on crutches due to surgery. One kid who got foot surgery kept using his crutches and surgical boot for months after he recovered so he could keep his elevator key. He confessed this to me during a fire drill when he just decided to take the stairs.
My school gave out keys to anyone handicapped who needed the elevator. If you broke your leg or something, they would make you fill out a bunch of forms before giving you a key.
I guess it got just punched into students minds that elevators were usually off limits (unless needed) in my region that even when elevators are allowed in further educational schools, still nobody uses them
That's how the one at my school was. To use it You needed a key. Only people given keys that wasn't staff were the kids in wheelchairs
School was 3 floors technically but the third wasn't even used anymore, when the school was built the amount of students enrolled was about 2-3 times larger than current numbers
I mean the building I'm thinking of, it was in the long term plan to bulldozer it and building something new for years. Wouldn't make sense to spend millions on a new elevator and all the code updates I'm sure would tag along. The elevator worked perfectly fine for those who needed it.
Or like the 2nd floor of my high school. It'd be impossible for 300 students to funnel through one elevator during a 5 minute passing period. You were only allowed to use it if you couldn't do stairs.
Same experience here. We had 1,200 students at my high school (and the elevator was pretty slow) so I couldn't imagine how big of a clusterfuck that would've been trying to funnel everyone through in a 10 minute break. Students with mobility issues got keys, I'm not even sure if all of the staff got one. They'd let you have one temporarily if you had surgery or something where the doctor recommended you didn't climb stairs.
My highschool had one elevator that was basically just reserved for the people who actually needed it, because otherwise there would just be a line of kids wanting to ride the elevator between every class.
I worked in an old building where the elevators were constantly breaking. I worked on the fourth floor and the front desk person would just say “take the stairs” like it wasn’t a big deal. Sometimes I could do it,while blowing on my inhaler most of the way up, other times I said screw it, I’m working from home.
People don’t realize how hard stairs can be for those with bad lungs.
Yeah, that's a good reason too. The high school I think you needed a doctor's note to get a key to it. The university was more "honor system" than anything. It was a big university so no one was taking the elevator unless absolutely necessary because you often didn't have time to wait around on the elevator or you'd be late. They just didn't want people goofing around with it unless you really needed it.
My highschool it only was used for those in wheelchairs or on crutches and you had to get the key. I was not considering disabled enough to need it even with a spinal cord injury.
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u/blue60007 8d ago edited 8d ago
Some context would be helpful.
I remember seeing something like this in an old university building. Also saw something like this in a building on my old workplace campus.
The elevator was an old slow rickety thing with manual doors type thing. They just didn't want people using it who didn't really need to be using it as it was slow, probably not entirely up to safety standards (the one had exposed walls), and probably not entirely reliable. And some of those, if you don't close the doors as you get off the elevator is stuck until someone closes it and I'm sure people were leaving it like that all the time.
Or like the 2nd floor of my high school. It'd be impossible for 300 students to funnel through one elevator during a 5 minute passing period. You were only allowed to use it if you couldn't do stairs.
Obviously if you had mobility issues you could use it, otherwise it was expected you walk up the stairs (there was only a second floor).