Lurking in an Elevator

Cowell Hall main elevator, University of San Francisco—11:20am

When you focus all your attention on what everyone around you is doing, it’s easy to notice similarities in people’s behaviors. You notice details that you’ve often found yourself doing. It’s like you’re inside everyone else’s head—you already know why they’re doing what they’re doing because you’ve done it yourself.

People without a phone to look preoccupied with keep their gaze high, looking at the tops of the doors waiting for them to open. That way they can avoid accidental eye contact with anyone else in the elevator, and keeping their gaze high ensures security. The ones who were alone would fiddle with their clothes or look for something obscure in their bag. People who knew one another had casual, surface level conversation. A couple times, the elevator goers gave me sly sideways glances. Maybe they were trying to see if they knew me without blatantly staring. It’s basic elevator etiquette not to stare.  Maybe they were just curious.

If you have your headphones on and make it a point to seem preoccupied, you’ll usually be left alone. I think that’s what most everyone aims for on the elevator, minimal social interaction. That proved true, because only after I took my headphones off did someone feel it was safe to ask me a question about the building. She wanted to know what floor her classroom was on…I told her I wasn’t entirely sure and gave her a rough estimate instead. Hopefully she found her class eventually.

For a span of about 15 minutes, a group of girls were clustered and chatting in the 3^rd floor hallway—probably waiting for their class to start. People kept calling the elevator to the 3^rd floor, and I’m pretty sure they started to notice me lurking in the elevator. They looked over every time the doors opened as if to chart how many times they’d see me again. I decided then it was time to make my exit.