How the World Works: Escalators

Most of us have already mastered using the escalator, but I thought I’d start the How the World Works blog out on a lighter note.

Although most of us understand that an escalator is a moving staircase, I know that there are a few nuances using the escalator that I personally needed some guidance on throughout my life.  And I’ve also witnessed others who were challenged with the use of the escalator.

Most children (including me when I was younger)  have attempted to walk up the downward escalator or down the upward escalator while at a visit to the local mall and we quickly find out that it really isn’t’ much fun to do that – we just have to try it.  That’s normal.

One day, I was traveling through the Philadelphia airport and I was behind a family who apparently didn’t speak English and was having some difficulty maneuvering the airport.  I was behind them a few steps away when they first walked onto the escalator.   Another group was behind me, and another behind them and so on.

I could see the family pointing to the signs and looking at their tickets.  It looked like they were trying to decipher which way to go, which honestly, happens to most of us in a new environment.  Did I mention they weren’t speaking English, so I couldn’t offer any assistance.

When they arrived at the bottom of the escalator, they just stopped and continued to look at signs to figure out which way to go.

If you’ve been on a escalator before, you may have noticed …

ESCALATORS DON'T STOP. 

I started yelling “MOVE!  MOVE!  MOVE!”  This was not to be rude, but to warn them that if they didn’t’ move, there was no place for me to go but right on top of them!

The really important rule about escalators is that YOU MUST STEP OFF AND KEEP MOVING AWAY.

That’s how the world works.  Escalators.