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The Unspoken Uncomfortable Eye Diversionary Tactic
As of yesterday, I have moved from the 2nd floor to the 8th floor of the building I work in. I got spoiled being able to walk up a flight of stairs and not have to wait for the elevator. For our floor, only 2 of the 5 elevators go to Floor 8 so I’ve already experienced some wait times while I was moving all my stuff.

Like most building built in the past 20 years, the inside doors and front wall are mirror-like. An advantage to this if you are by yourself is you can see if you are presentable – hair is neat, blemishes don’t show, boogers not showing… But the aspect that I, like most people, aren’t fond of is the “where do you place your stare” scenario. If you’re riding the elevator with someone you know, it’s not an issue. You just make small talk. But if you’re among a group where you don’t know anyone, do you stare down at the floor, anti-social-like, or do you stare at the reflection of everyone, hoping that you don’t get caught staring at the young lady’s bosom or the dandruff flakes on a developer’s black shirt?

One of the better inventions in the past decade has been the elevator TV screen. In my previous company’s building, each elevator was outfitted with one of these devices and it showed the basics - news flashes, sports scores, stock market info, weather, photos, quotes. What’s great about this is it minimizes the uncomfortable diverted stares that normally accompany people inside reflective elevators. Just like how the internet allows people to avoid human interaction on many levels, the elevator TV display reduces the need for people to begin any sort of useless small talk between strangers. Sometimes this is breached when someone reads an item on the display and then comments on it to others. These are the same people that feel the need to talk to you on airline flights. An elevator and an airplane are perfect examples of places people should just shut up.