COVID-19 Etiquette, Rules for Elevators Cause Clashes in NYC

Reading a November 4 piece in the New York Post titled “Why Elevator Etiquette Has New Yorkers at Each Other’s Throats” brought to mind several things: One, an instance early on in the pandemic when your author encountered a very loud, maskless woman in a convenience store screaming something about “spicy pickles” (you can imagine the amount of “droplets” that surely produced) and two, a blog post I wrote in early July about a pair of elderly neighbors in a Florida high rise getting into a shoving match over elevator riding rights. Patience is still thin and tempers are still flaring, as illustrated by the Post piece, which describes various instances in which high-rise residents find themselves “at war” with their neighbors. Elevator rules that reduce capacity, require masks and allow people to ride solo if they choose have led to angry, awkward situations. Doormen have had to break up and diffuse several of these situations. For the time being, at least, those living in high rises — whether in NYC or Phoenix or Paris — should should perhaps just take a literal or figurative chill pill. And if you’re late to that meeting because of capacity limits and lines, surely whoever is waiting for you will understand.

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NYC tower dwellers and elevator users Shai Canaan and Carole Tashjian; photo courtesy of the New York Post

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