Wednesday, April 20, 2005

Mirror Mirror on the Elevator

Some people's (especially ladies) elevator decorum really puzzles me.

Most annoying elevator practices are justifiable e.g.:

  • Pressing the button twice/quintuple times is warranted when you are: a) in a rush; b) uncertain whether it registered the 1st time; c) colour blind; d) overdosed on caffeine.


  • [If you are male] Not letting the lady contingent exit/enter before you because you are: a) a bastard; b) partial to only one particular spot of the elevator; c) partial to people looking at your ass; d) a misogynist; d) completely devoid of chivalry.


  • Putting yourself in-between the security swipe and the person who needs to swipe because: a) you are too fat to move out of the way; b) you derive pleasure watching people contort themselves to around you; c) someone farted at the other end of the lift; d) you are an idiot.


  • However, one particular elevator behaviour that I cannot justify is the way some women fully check out themselves in the mirror for the entire journey, notwithstanding the fact that: a) the lift is full of strangers; b) the dim lighting inside the lift which means that you can't actually see yourself in the mirror ; c) in this particular instance, there really was nothing to check out (i.e. she was a dog ... ouch).

    I was confronted with this exact scenario the other day when this lady walks into the elevator, albeit I was the only other person in the lift. She beings to fully check herself out in the dimly-lit elevator; tossing her hair, sucking her cheeks to make fish lips, primping herself meticulously to the point of nausea. I swear she got so close to the mirror that she was nearly kissing her own reflection. This continues for the entire 11-floor journey.

    Fair enough, she takes pride, pleasure and apparently a lot of persistence in her appearance (i.e. vain, deluded loser).

    Later that day, as luck would have it, this same lady walks in on level 11, this time carrying a packet of chips. To my complete horror, I watch her study herself eating a chip in front of the mirror. It looked like she was serenading herself ... with a chip. If I was her, my reaction to myself would be 'is that all you can offer me? a chip?'

    On a non-related topic, that Average Joe show is such a farce. As if anyone would seriously pick an average joe over a non-average joe. Even perennial Average Joe himself (Adam returns) ultimately picked a non-average joette over an average joette. It is for this exact reason why deluded losers such as elevator lady deem is necessarily to keep fully checking herself in the mirror every time she encounters the elevator mirror.