Uplifting?
It is said that, shortly after the Dubai Trade Centre was completed, an old Bedu and his son were riding and saw the tower in the far distance. Curious, the old man led his son up to the tower, left his son to hold the camels, and went in to investigate.
Inside, he saw several lifts, devices he had never even heard of before.
An elderly lady, wearing the usual abaya and the Gulf burka, walked unsteadily with her cane and entered a lift. (The Gulf burka is not at all like the Afghani burka, but is a cloth that looks like gold and was traditionally used in place of the veil.) The doors to the lift closed. A few minutes later, the doors opened, and a young woman, walking in the Islamic way but without a cane, and wearing an abaya and burka emerged.
The old Bedu ran outside and told his son, 'Go get your mother and bring her here immediately.'
While the above story may be apocryphal (I'm not sure), the residents of Dubai seem completely unfamiliar with lifts. Whatever direction they wish to travel, there are just two possibilities: half the time, they hit the button for the opposite direction, and the other half of the time they hit both buttons.
I have yet to see any residents of Dubai press only the 'Up' button when they wish to go Up, or only the 'Down' button when they wish to go down, unless they are on the top or bottom floor and have only the one choice.
Inside, he saw several lifts, devices he had never even heard of before.
An elderly lady, wearing the usual abaya and the Gulf burka, walked unsteadily with her cane and entered a lift. (The Gulf burka is not at all like the Afghani burka, but is a cloth that looks like gold and was traditionally used in place of the veil.) The doors to the lift closed. A few minutes later, the doors opened, and a young woman, walking in the Islamic way but without a cane, and wearing an abaya and burka emerged.
The old Bedu ran outside and told his son, 'Go get your mother and bring her here immediately.'
While the above story may be apocryphal (I'm not sure), the residents of Dubai seem completely unfamiliar with lifts. Whatever direction they wish to travel, there are just two possibilities: half the time, they hit the button for the opposite direction, and the other half of the time they hit both buttons.
I have yet to see any residents of Dubai press only the 'Up' button when they wish to go Up, or only the 'Down' button when they wish to go down, unless they are on the top or bottom floor and have only the one choice.
posted by Dubai@Random at 2:18 am
3 Comments:
Here is the same. People just dont like to think a little.
By the way, congratulations for your blog, it really amuses me because i love to learn about the daily lives of people
That same story/joke is told in the US, except of course there it is about an old farmer in the big city for the first time.
The elevator thing that gets me, and again, everywhere I have been is when people are standing around waiting for the elevator, every new person has to come push the call button, even if it is already lit up.
I am glad I am not the only person who has noticed this in Dubai. I guess some people think that if they are on a low floor wanting to go up, they should press "down" to have the lift come down to them; then again, still feeling unsure, they doubt this logic and press "up" just for good measure - after all, they want to go up! My feeling is that if these people cannot learn after months, years, or a lifetime of using elevators, they should probably just use the stairs.
As another commentor noted, I have to say, the thing about people repressing lit elevator buttons really sets me off - as if they think they have the "magic touch" or something; or that everyone else in the world is so stupid that we would stand around waiting for an elevator without pressing the button!
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