Can you make the lift go faster

On a recent visit to our local shopping centre, i stood waiting for a lift to go back to get the car from the multi-storey car park. The lady in front of me pressed the lift call button and i must say, with a little aggression.

5 seconds later the lift had still not arrived, the lady pressed the button 3 more times in quick succession but no lift. A further 5 seconds passed and still no lift. Then all of a sudden with lightning speed the lady pressed the button at least 10 times as hard as she could. At one point i thought the button would surely break, however 5 more seconds passed and voila the lift arrived.

I considered what i had witnessed and quickly realised that obviously the more times you press the button the faster the lift moves, right.

Wrong.. A lift controller will only register the call, Once. The controller will then dispatch the lift to that call once it has finished the previous calls logged, pressing the button 10 more times will do nothing except wear the button out faster and in some cases make the lift controller ignore the call. The controller has an anti nuisance function that allows it to ignore a call if the button is being held in.

So next time you are waiting for a lift and feel the urge to frantically press the button, resist the temptation and patiently wait for the lift and you will find it does not go any slower.