Comments on: "I am Happy to be an Epsilon-Minus"

By: Berniec56

Berniec56 — Tue, 15 Nov 2005 20:33:59 +0000

I'm with Gabriel's 2nd post and the others who questioned that there was any logic involved in the decision.
I'm guessing that she -
a) didn't want to wait in the hallway and felt a sense of accomplishment by simply getting on the elevator,
b) thought your sweater was cute, or
c) who knows?

There was no logic involved here... just a tired elderly lady who wanted to share a quiet elevator ride with a nice young man in her building.

Another MBA reader....

By: J Philip

J Philip — Mon, 14 Nov 2005 15:03:39 +0000

[Kip replies: I guess being gay has its benefits...]

That reminds me of Sam Kinison's rant "Thank God for the Big F***ing menu we have down here! Thanks alot!"

By: another david

another david — Mon, 14 Nov 2005 13:26:51 +0000

Consider the idea that she (or he, as I've seen guys do the same) can now say that, "I've done my part. It's not my fault."

Instead of thinking about how a system is meant to work, or what steps would be most efficient, she took the route most likely to achieve success given minimal effort/thinking on her part; now, she can just switch off and wait...and complain now and then.

By: J Philip

J Philip — Mon, 14 Nov 2005 06:48:05 +0000

You are 38 and still trying to figure out women?
You are applying logic to women?
You are applying logic to an elderly woman?
I live with my 80 year old mother, my 38 year old wife, and my 21 month old daughter. Guess who makes the most sense?

My guess is that logic had nothing to do with it. She was stealing 30 seconds with a nice young man, liked the pattern on your sweater, or just reflexively entered the elevator no matter if you told her the next stop was hades. It could be 1000 other things foreign to the male mind.

I can see Spock's eyebrow raising right now. Nope, no logic. None.

[Kip replies: I guess being gay has its benefits...]

By: nordsieck_

nordsieck_ — Mon, 14 Nov 2005 01:04:58 +0000

What if, through experience, each of the women knows that the other elevator is probably totally full and will pass her without giving her a chance to get in?

Sounds ridiculous, I know, but that was the only thing that I could come up with.

My guess, thought, is that Gabriel is right the second time: the illusion of progress is more satisfying that the illusion of being stuck, even though the women are following a sub-optimal strategy.

By: KipEsquire

KipEsquire — Mon, 14 Nov 2005 00:23:14 +0000

Gabriel's reasoning assumes that you haven't already pushed the "up" button at the lobby and instead dove into the elevator hoping/assuming that it was going up. That definitely wasn't the case the first time and I seriously doubt it happened the second time either.

As for Don's observation, I should have pointed out that there are two elevators in the bank, and that the call buttons on each floor clearly indicate what floor each elevator is on and which direction they're going. Sorry for the confusion.

By: Gabriel Mihalache

Gabriel Mihalache — Mon, 14 Nov 2005 00:16:06 +0000

Another thought:

Waiting in the lobby–neat the door, watching the lights change–is more annoying than waiting in the elevator to reach your floor… psychologically speaking, in relation to impatience.

It's my experience that you get a little bit of satisfaction just by getting on an elevator… The time waiting to get on is more taxing than the time spend in the elevator. Or maybe I got OCD

By: Gabriel Mihalache

Gabriel Mihalache — Mon, 14 Nov 2005 00:04:08 +0000

If she wouldn't have stepped on, then the elevator would have had to stop again at the lobby, on its way up, and she would have taken it then. This way, she gets on and she avoids the delay of another stop.

Upstairs -> Lobby -> Basement -> Upstairs
-versus-
Upstairs -> Lobby -> Basement -> Lobby -> Upstairs

This sounds like a problem for operations research. Personal note: I'm doing my thesis on operations research (Branch&Bound), although the main focus of my school work is economics, econometrics, cybernetic models and the like.