[counttheforks]

> In Japan it's not uncommon to have someone exit the elevator and just as they exit, press the close button so the door will close immediately behind them. This is a "sorry I interrupted your time by having to stop the elevator" gesture. This wouldn't work in the USA because the light sensors would trigger the doors reopening.

Sounds annoying. If I see an elevator stop at a floor then I'd like a chance to actually get on it, instead of having my time wasted by a futile gesture that might save someone a second or two.

[ninepoints]

You don't think that before doing this gesture, the individual would check if there were people waiting to get on the elevator?

[counttheforks]

Hardly seems like it'd save any time if they would.

[ramchip]

It doesn't take any time, you just see if there's people outside or not when the doors open.

[Dylan16807]

They're walking out, it will be clear if someone is there and take no additional time.

[b4je7d7wb]

I never saw anyone do this in Japan. Because you can slide out before the doors are fully open, in this case people in elevator can close the doors earlier. If you wait for them to fully open and close them yourself then its wasting time.

[jrockway]

I haven't seen this either, but the only building I'm particularly familiar with used 2 story elevators (board at 1 or 2, arrive at 17 or 18), so I'm guessing the close door button isn't going to do much (the elevator on the lower level has to deal with the loading conditions of the upper level, and vice-versa).