A Deep Moral Quandry

Somnolence

A hypothetical:
The new residential building you live in has two elevators, but one of them is out of order for repairs.
The building is also rather tall, maybe around 15 stories high, or maybe as high as 30.
After you wait quite some time for the elevator, and as you prepare to get off the elevator, you have a brief window to hit the button and send the elevator somewhere else.
There is no one else in the elevator, and it hasn't been called elsewhere yet.
Where do you send it to?

the-syreth-clan

I don't use elevators (unless I'm with others and it'd be a significant wait for me), but I'd probably just leave it as is?

Reveriemoe

If I came in from the ground floor, and despite waiting saw nobody else come in with me, then I would infer it'd be best to leave it towards the top, as I know that nobody else at ground level has needed it for quite some time, but am less sure for people at the top or middle.

kan

After I leave the elevator, I wouldn't send it anywhere else. It will go to the next location it needs to be for anyone who pushes the button next (or fastest).

Lumeinshin

I was trying to think of what i've done in the past.. I may have done all of these at one time. Overall I leave it as is, although sending to the opposite area is the most amusing

Nah

I need to use the elevators all the time in an apartment building and often think of this.

My answer is bottom floor. No matter what floor you live on, EVERYONE will eventually leave or enter at the bottom floor. If you put the elevator to the top floor, it won't do much of a service for them as the top floor people would need to wait for the elevator when they return home.

agoraoptera

Almost all modern elevators are configured to idle at a middling or ground floor, and will return to that preset floor if left alone for some time. So on that basis, I'd let sleeping lifts lie, and let it go where its makers have deemed appropriate.

HowlerMcgee

I will close my eyes and click a random button in the elevator, and leave it up to fate. Its not like i know whos upstairs or downstairs, so selecting up or down will just screw over whoever is on the opposite side (vertically) of the building anyways.

sanner

I voted for the top of the building, but then I considered that this might be the sort of residential building where wealth positively correlates with floor number. Maybe it has are penthouses or something. They have enough going for them, so they can probably be patient enough to wait for the elevator.

If this was a building for normal people, then I would send the elevator according to the time of day. If it was in the morning (around 8:00 maybe), then i'd send it towards the top, because people will be leaving for work. And likewise if it was 18:00 i'd probably send it to the ground floor, because lots of people would be returning from work.

Patchoulism

I think it's virtually impossible to predict who will use elevator next, unless you know all the residents by heart and all exclusive cases are known to you (top floor staircase being used by slovenly residents as a smoking area, mother with a baby stroller on second floor, and other such outliers), so leaving it as it is seems the logical choice... But I still send it to ground floor anyway, it just feels correct to me despite any reasonable guesses.

Aero

The answer is to demolish the apartment complex and build a data center there instead. Or a country club

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