CareerBuilder Survey Reveals the Most Unusual Things That Happened in Work Elevators

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Aug 08, 2012, 06:00 ET

CHICAGO, Aug. 8, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Ever see someone at work floss his teeth in an elevator? "Pants" a co-worker? Get in a fist fight? CareerBuilder's latest study pinpoints the most unusual and annoying behaviors workers have witnessed in their office elevators. The study was conducted online by Harris Interactive© from May 14 to June 4, 2012 and included more than 3,800 workers nationwide.

While most people follow standard elevator etiquette of facing forward and generally keeping to themselves, quite a few workers reported less-than-ordinary experiences while in transit. Workers shared the following real-life examples of weird behaviors they observed in work elevators:

"Pantsing" a co-worker
Changing a baby's diaper
Flossing teeth
Clipping fingernails
Fist fighting
Showing someone a rash and asking for a diagnosis
Moving the entire contents of a co-worker's office into the elevator, including the desk
A woman with her arms full of papers using her head to keep the doors from closing on her
Dancing throughout the ride

When asked to identify the most annoying elevator habits they see more commonly at the office, workers most often cited people talking on cell phones, standing in close proximity for no apparent reason and deliberately letting the elevator doors close when someone is approaching. Top annoying habits include:

Talking on a cell phone – 35 percent
Not holding the door open when others are running to get on the elevator – 33 percent. (Incidentally, 16 percent of workers admitted to purposely closing the elevator door when they saw someone approaching.)
Standing too close when there is plenty of room in the elevator – 32 percent
Squeezing into an already crowded elevator – 32 percent
Not stepping off the elevator to let other people out – 27 percent
Holding the elevator doors open for an extended period of time while waiting for someone else to get on – 26 percent
Cutting in line to get on the elevator when other people have been waiting longer – 23 percent
Taking the elevator to go up one or two floors instead of using the stairs – 20 percent
Pushing the wrong button, so the elevator stops at more floors – 17 percent
Facing away from the elevator door, instead of toward the door like everyone else – 7 percent

For some workers, elevators rides are a source of anxiety. Sixteen percent of workers said they are afraid of getting stuck in an elevator due to a malfunction.

Methodology
This survey was conducted online within the U.S. by Harris Interactive© on behalf of CareerBuilder among 3,892 U.S. workers (employed full-time, not self-employed, non-government) ages 18 and over between May 14 and June 4, 2012 (percentages for some questions are based on a subset, based on their responses to certain questions). With a pure probability sample of 3,892, one could say with a 95 percent probability that the overall results have a sampling error of +/-1.57 percentage points. Sampling error for data from sub-samples is higher and varies.

About CareerBuilder®
CareerBuilder is the global leader in human capital solutions, helping companies target and attract their most important asset - their people. Its online career site, CareerBuilder.com®, is the largest in the United States with more than 24 million unique visitors, 1 million jobs and 49 million resumes. CareerBuilder works with the world's top employers, providing resources for everything from employment branding and talent intelligence to recruitment support. More than 10,000 websites, including 140 newspapers and broadband portals such as MSN and AOL, feature CareerBuilder's proprietary job search technology on their career sites. Owned by Gannett Co., Inc. (NYSE:GCI), Tribune Company and The McClatchy Company (NYSE:MNI), CareerBuilder and its subsidiaries operate in the United States, Europe, South America, Canada and Asia. For more information, visit www.careerbuilder.com.

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SOURCE CareerBuilder