Brits and lift etiquette

[Syt]

We are talking about greeting people you're going to be pretty physically close for a few moments, not asking them for a date.

You are already invading other people's space in a lift (and vice versa). Being friendly is a way to defuse that tension.

How is that different from getting on a crowded bus/tram/subway?

[Duque de Bragança]

We are talking about greeting people you're going to be pretty physically close for a few moments, not asking them for a date.

You are already invading other people's space in a lift (and vice versa). Being friendly is a way to defuse that tension.

How is that different from getting on a crowded bus/tram/subway?

Less people to deal with, hopefully.

[celedhring]

We are talking about greeting people you're going to be pretty physically close for a few moments, not asking them for a date.

You are already invading other people's space in a lift (and vice versa). Being friendly is a way to defuse that tension.

How is that different from getting on a crowded bus/tram/subway?

Lifts are a much more intimate space. Being surrounded by 50 people in a train car isn't the same as being surrounded by 2-3 people inside a moving closet.

Wouldn't you greet the people you sit with when getting in somebody's car even if you don't know them?

[Gups]

We are talking about greeting people you're going to be pretty physically close for a few moments, not asking them for a date.

You are already invading other people's space in a lift (and vice versa). Being friendly is a way to defuse that tension.

How is that different from getting on a crowded bus/tram/subway?

Lifts are a much more intimate space. Being surrounded by 50 people in a train car isn't the same as being surrounded by 2-3 people inside a moving closet.

Wouldn't you greet the people you sit with when getting in somebody's car even if you don't know them?

So do you say hello to someone if you sit next to them on a bus or a train?

[Martinus]

Ok you Brits are weird. I am as antisocial as they come and hate people who chat you up or anything but I always say "good morning" when I enter a lift in Poland and "good bye" when I leave when there are people there (of course I mean complete strangers). It's just polite. I mean it would be awkward not to acknowledge other people in close quarters like this.

[Martinus]

We are talking about greeting people you're going to be pretty physically close for a few moments, not asking them for a date.

You are already invading other people's space in a lift (and vice versa). Being friendly is a way to defuse that tension.

How is that different from getting on a crowded bus/tram/subway?

Lifts are a much more intimate space. Being surrounded by 50 people in a train car isn't the same as being surrounded by 2-3 people inside a moving closet.

Wouldn't you greet the people you sit with when getting in somebody's car even if you don't know them?

So do you say hello to someone if you sit next to them on a bus or a train?

No but I do that in a train compartment or on a plane.

[celedhring]

We are talking about greeting people you're going to be pretty physically close for a few moments, not asking them for a date.

You are already invading other people's space in a lift (and vice versa). Being friendly is a way to defuse that tension.

How is that different from getting on a crowded bus/tram/subway?

Lifts are a much more intimate space. Being surrounded by 50 people in a train car isn't the same as being surrounded by 2-3 people inside a moving closet.

Wouldn't you greet the people you sit with when getting in somebody's car even if you don't know them?

So do you say hello to someone if you sit next to them on a bus or a train?

As a matter of fact, if they display awareness of my presence (aka not reading/checking their phone), I do. I'm going to be right next to them for a good while, so it seems natural.

[Gups]

As a matter of fact, if they display awareness of my presence (aka not reading/checking their phone), I do. I'm going to be right next to them for a good while, so it seems natural.

Interesting. If you did that in London (where, TBF, the person sitting next to you might change every few minutes), you would be regarded with bemusement.

[celedhring]

My commute is pretty long. I tend to be seated next to the same people for 30 minutes.

Foreigners don't do it, certainly. So I get it might a cultural thing.

[Tamas]

I guess it depends on the situation.

In our previous office building there were like 3 floors altogether, with an elevator, so people would spend seconds together in a lift and as I recall nobody bothered to greet and/or say bye, but for example they'd usually keep the door open if they see someone making a rush for it or something, and this would be thanked, obviously.

[Berkut]

I dunno. In our office downtown, there are like 30 floors. If I get on at ground floor in the morning along with 10 other people, and I am going to 26, and then 5 more people get on at some point, I am not saying "Goodbye" 14 times or more as I go up, that would just feel weird.

You certainly chat with anyone you know of course.

[mongers]

Ok you Brits are weird. I am as antisocial as they come and hate people who chat you up or anything but I always say "good morning" when I enter a lift in Poland and "good bye" when I leave when there are people there (of course I mean complete strangers). It's just polite. I mean it would be awkward not to acknowledge other people in close quarters like this.

Lifts suck, I use the stairs.

Your right about the weirdness of Brits, when I'm out and about in the countryside I always say Hi, morning, evening etc to people I encounter, especially if dog walkers so they know I'm not going to run their dog down and/or they'll make an effort to restrain it.

But I can be miles from anywhere and I'll pass a walker, say hi and you'll get an utterly blank look from them if anything, that does seem bizarre, to me it's the human things to acknowledge the presence of other people, especially if your both in some sense travelling.

[Malthus]

In Toronto at least, talking to strangers in public spaces (unless functionally necessary) immediately identifies you as a foreigner. 

[Martinus]

I dunno. In our office downtown, there are like 30 floors. If I get on at ground floor in the morning along with 10 other people, and I am going to 26, and then 5 more people get on at some point, I am not saying "Goodbye" 14 times or more as I go up, that would just feel weird.

You certainly chat with anyone you know of course.

No, I meant saying that when I leave, not every time someone leaves.

[HVC]

In Toronto at least, talking to strangers in public spaces (unless functionally necessary) immediately identifies you as a foreigner. 

Or missionaries of some sort. Though I don't see as many Mormons as I used to