As i reluctantly begin school again after a wonderfully glorious spring break, I am reminded of what i left behind for a week: endless hours of school/studying, work, and responsibilities. Like a slap in the face, i find myself in the middle of the 11 week of class, up to my eyeballs with things to do. My professors so nicely decided to give me two quizzes and two exams this week. hurray!! i don't mean to bitch and moan for the entire post; things like this happen, and you just have to go with the flow. what i am getting at is that i am supposed to go to a "non-place" and observe what takes place. given my busy schedule, i have decided to use a non-place experience from a resort at where i recently stayed. it goes something like this:
I rode the elevator many times at the resort. one particular time stands out to me. I stayed on the 15th floor of the resort and was using the elevator to go down to the lobby. when i got in, all of the buttons from 10 down had been pushed. i thought to myself, what an inconvenience, but i was in no hurry so i decided to ride it out. when the elevator stopped on the 12th floor, it picked up 10 more people on their way down. i didn't say anything to them about the buttons, but they all saw them and still decided to stay on. when the elevator stopped at each floor, there was silence for the 15 seconds the door opened and closed. everyone looked to the front on the car, no one looked at each other, and no one really moved. it was really awkward as the elevator stopped again and again and we had to wait in silence, shoulder to shoulder with someone you don't know. still nothing was said to ease the awkwardness of the situation. no one even cared to make a joke about the situation. everyone was just on their way, wanting to make the trip go as quickly as possible.
now that i think of it, there was a girl who whispered to her mom something that no one else could hear. it was as if the rest of the people on the elevator should not hear the little piece of information because it was so private. it made it distance everyone on the elevator even more.
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4 comments:
Interesting idea--that people operate in a non-place as if there was a large physical distance between them. Also, everyone on the elevator must have hated you, if you were the only one there when they walked in and saw that all buttons were pushed.
I feel like we face that same situation every Tuesday and Thursday. For example on Tuesday, you and I spoke in the lobby waiting for the single functioning elevator to take us to class on the sixth floor...but as soon as we got in the elevator, we really stopped talking. Maybe it was the peer pressure to be quiet in an elevator. On a side note, does it make you irrate that people take the elevator to the fourth floor?? I learned in the dorms that anything below five is unacceptable to use an elevator (unless you physcially incapable or hungover). Just a thought.
I actually was talking with a friend before class on Tuesday when the elevator openned on the first floor. We both got on and continued the convo. It was a little weird and I got the feeling people were like wtf. I also find it amusing how (at least for girls) you can be talking to someone on the way to a public restroom, but enter and automatically stop talking, and then only resume post-hand washing.
I always think elevators are rides are so awkward. Sometimes I want to say something but get nervous. Sometimes I don't understand why people are so afraid of each other, like it is terrifying to say hello to someone in the elevator. Its weird.
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