Question: Where do you look when you’re on an elevator?

You look up, right?

You stare at the ceiling, or, if you’re lucky enough to have an LED display, you watch the numbers go up or down, silently willing them to go faster. It’s too much to be that close to strangers. I mean, if you’re on the elevator with someone, and then someone else comes on, you stop your conversation, right? There’s something about being in such close proximity to others that makes even the chattiest person shut up.

You also automatically space yourself as far as humanly possible from each other, resulting in constant shifts of position whenever you stop. Is this automatic, or learned behavior? I say, automatic, baby.

What would happen if you went ahead and stood really close to, or even, FACING someone? It would totally freak them out. Can you imagine? You’d automatically be assumed to be a perv or a freak or psycho. Normal people don’t stand close to each other on elevators, right? If someone did that to you, you’d flip out. You can be on the subway, squished in so tight and close to other people that you can smell their deodorant (or lack thereof) but never on an elevator.

Watch yourself, and everyone else, on an elevator next time, and see what you do without even thinking about it.