I was waiting for my coworker, Chet, to meet me in the hotel lobby so we could grab dinner at the neighboring restaurant. He arrived just as the elevator door opened to reveal a large family: parents about my age and four kids, maybe 10 years old and younger.
“Are you going down?” I asked.
“Yes, we are,” the mother replied, somewhat reluctantly.
“Good,” I answered cheerfully, “so are we.” Chet and I stepped into the elevator.
What happened next was just plain bizarre. The children froze in place, seemingly terrified. They were looking up at their parents for guidance when finally their mother instructed them to make room for us. You see, the way I was raised, when someone else wants to get on the elevator, one politely steps aside and makes room. It’s called manners. What made it even stranger was that there was still plenty of room.
We rode down quietly to the first floor. As the elevator opened, I reached out to hold the building door open for them but no one reached to take it from me. Only when it was about to slam on his kids did the father finally take it. They then followed Chet and me into the restaurant.
As Chet and I got settled in our booth, the family marches past the table. The 5-year-old girl turns around and glares at me. Out of nowhere and in the nastiest voice you ever heard she sneers “whad’ya do that for, mister?!”
“Um, excuse me?” I responded, dumbfounded, but they kept walking to their seats.
Chet and I just looked at each other. I couldn’t believe I was just rudely dissed by a five year old girl.
I reckon they don’t get many strangers ’round here, or something. Pretty easy to see why.
Wow. That is just plain odd.
It isn’t entirely unusual for a child to believe that the world rotates around them; but, a whole family?
I think I figured out what happened. I think the kids might have been fighting over who would get to push the elevator buttons. When I got on, I immediately pressed the “close” button so we all wouldn’t have to wait. Perhaps the look the kids gave their parents was one of disappointment. I’ve learned that stuff like this is important to kids.
The father saw Chet in the hotel’s breakfast area this morning and gave him a friendly “hello,” so I think it was just a problem the kids had.
Had me quite confused, though!
I have vague memories of having to work all that out before getting on elevators. 🙂
I have 4 children ranging from 3 to 9 (I was trying to remember if we shared an elevator with anyone recently!)
There have been tears and fights about who gets to push the elevator buttons. Then my wife tells me not to cry and let the kids push the buttons.
Todd, you are too funny!