New Series on etiquette... (running at same time as Love Never Dies) . #2. Elevator Etiquette Part Two. Weather.

It was 107 degrees recently in Downtown Los Angeles. That is excessively hot for us; really should be excessively hot for most anywhere barring Palm Springs, Phoenix and a few other places in the summer. I was coming down the elevator at the athletic club we belong to with a guy who had also just left the locker room. He had a cycle helmet. We had 5 floors to travel, roughly 45 seconds to 1 minute (I know this ride as well as the one in our building at home). I commented "you braved it and decided to ride here" with a approving smile. He replied "It's only a mile and by time I get in the car, out of the car, it's just as sweaty anyway." We were parting the door and I responded "fair enough" and we went our separate ways. Hardly a necessary conversation, but it seemed like a reasonable excuse to initiate one. Again, this was a day of rare record setting heat. I am often complaining that I hardly know anyone at this club and socialization was a large reason for our joining. If I never take any initiative, that will always be the case, not that this 30 seconds is going to make a new BFF, but at least it's something. I don't know how his ride home was, but I did my 4 block walk and felt like I had sprinted a 5k.

Typically, though, I think it is rather lame, especially in a place like LA, to use weather as an excuse for useless conversation. If someone complains to me that it is raining, I remind them how badly we need it. How can you complain about something that in this past year I don't think has happened 15 days out of the year? Recently, heat is a legitimate complaint, but comments like "man it is hot" just seems so obvious and thus lame. That differs some from complimenting one who braves cycling in over 100 degree weather, especially leaving an athletic club.

I say this and anytime there is any weather of note, I am quick to talk about it with friends and family elsewhere. But, they are elsewhere in the country or the world, not on an elevator with me. Besides, they always have weather related issues to discuss, I might have a rain storm, some wind, a bit of a chill, excessive heat, a couple dozen times a year to bring up in conversation. Some 300 days a year it's usually just about the same here.

Getting on the elevator in LA and saying "damn, traffic was bad" is even more lame than "boy is it sunny outside." Both are predictable. In other parts of the country, I think there is a little more empathy for traffic delays, but if you are not a road warrior you have no place in LA. Even in Columbus, Ohio or Columbus, GA does someone who doesn't know you want to discuss your drive-in on an elevator?

Waits for elevators, overcrowded elevators that cause you to wait for another one, these are always reasonable things to have a comment with that stranger next to you. After all, you are sharing the experience together.

I think asking someone about a tee shirt from a concert, play, event (public, not a family reunion necessarily) or shopping bag from let's say a museum shop or something very specific, not Saks Fifth Avenue or a discount store and asking about it can certainly be appropriate. "How was...?" usually will be an appreciated question if you are so curious. After all, they are advertising their having attended. This is less true with a shopping bag, but if you are on the fence about going to the Dali Museum or something most will be happy to tell you if they thought it was worth the trip.

Again, going back to my first blog on elevator etiquette, most rides are about a minute or less so ultimately less is more...