Anyone else not like escalators?

[Princess Viola]

I very much do not like them at all.

Always afraid that I'll either trip and fall at the top and get hurt or that I'll lose my balance as I step onto them going down and trip and fall down the escalator.

The latter actually did partially happen to me when I went to the mall back in December, had to take the escalator to go up to the second floor of Macy's and, as I was stepping onto the down escalator, I lost my balance thanks to those accursed moving stairs and stumbled a bit. I didn't fall, luckily, but I was holding onto the side railing for dear life until I was back on the ground floor.

Give me regular non-moving stairs or an elevator over an escalator any day.

 

[MildredHubble]

I used to be escalator agnostic until my joint problems became a real issue. I have to try to sequence my steps on the escalator. If I step on with my right leg, the movement causes pain in my knee and that causes my leg to kinda collapse a bit (sorry, that's the best way I can think to describe it) so I loose my balance. Stepping off is a problem too.

Also transitioning from the none moving floor to the moving steps can trigger pain in my lower back. I never knew just how much instinctive repositioning goes on untill recent years. I have certainly stumbled many times in escalators. Even though it hurts my leg and back more, I opt for the stairs, as long as they aren't too crowded.

 

[AGXStarseed]

I'm not really fussed either way. For me, I have two issues when it comes to escalators;

01. When they're high off the ground and you can see the floor below, I refuse to get on them - namely as I have a thing about heights.

02. I have the same issue as Billy Connolly (he says about this in his "Live in New York" show while talking about going to the cinema - the clip's on YouTube) in that when I get on an escalator, I like to walk on them as it lets me get where I want to go a bit quicker.
The issue I have is when I get stuck behind someone who decides to stay still, which just bugs me - especially if you're on the "moving floors" at the airport and people just stand still on them.

 

[Rodafina]

Dislike them very much. I had quite a few memorable meltdowns trying to use them as a child. Now, I dislike the dirty handrails and fears of things getting stuck in them. Elevators are worse, though.

 

[MildredHubble]

Dislike them very much. I had quite a few memorable meltdowns trying to use them as a child. Now, I dislike the dirty handrails and fears of things getting stuck in them. Elevators are worse, though.

Oh yeah! The handrails, I always slip my hand into the sleeve of my hoodie to use them. Thinking about it, to the people behind me, with all the adjustments I'm making preparing to board the escalator, it probably looks more like I'm preparing to go into space or something! Actually, if escalators went to space, I'd probably be more keen to use them!

 

[Misery]

I'm generally fine with escalators, and typically if I'm the only one on one I'll walk up/down them while they're moving in order to move that much faster because I have less than zero patience.

What I dont like is elevators. Too many negative experiences with those. Firstly, seeing the results of an elevator crash at a convention I went to once (at basically the worst hotel in the history of ever, it has since been demolished due to being a vortex of awful). It was only like a one floor drop when it happened, but they still needed to bring in the ol' ambulance and such in case injuries for those inside were serious. I'll never forget them being taken out of there. As far as I know, nobody was like permanently hurt or anything, but even a one floor crash has gotta hurt.

Also, WAY too many experiences... also at conventions... of having to be packed into the stupid sliding sardine cans with like 20 other people at once. Are those elevators supposed to hold 20 at once? I can tell you, no they are not. But at many of those, there wasnt much other option... unless of course I wanted to go up/down 15 flights of stairs every single bloody time I left or returned to the room.

So nowadays... yeah. That's a big fat nope. I cant see the stupid things without thinking of all that stuff. I dont encounter elevators all that often on normal days, only if I have physical therapy, and in that case I just go up the stairs in the back of the building instead. It's just two floors up, I can handle that.

 

[Yeshuasdaughter]

I adore escalators. If anything, as a teenager, running the wrong way up an escalator was the greatest stim of all.

But yes, at the very last minute, I always get this irrational sensation that my toes are going to get sucked under with the stairsteps. I step nimbly just before.

It's still loads of fun though.

 

[AGXStarseed]

I adore escalators. If anything, as a teenager, running the wrong way up an escalator was the greatest stim of all.

But yes, at the very last minute, I always get this irrational sensation that my toes are going to get sucked under with the stairsteps. I step nimbly just before.

It's still loads of fun though.

Reminds of a book a read called "101 things to do before you're old and boring" - with going the wrong way on an escalator been one of the first items listed.

 

[MildredHubble]

I adore escalators. If anything, as a teenager, running the wrong way up an escalator was the greatest stim of all.

But yes, at the very last minute, I always get this irrational sensation that my toes are going to get sucked under with the stairsteps. I step nimbly just before.

It's still loads of fun though.

When I was a kid I did that, before my mother went nuts at me for doing so. I liked the idea of getting it just right so I was constantly walking but stationary. I do recall people coming down the escalator being a bit irritated, oddly they were a lot nicer about it than my mother was.

One thing that used to scare me when I was about 3 years old, was that the escalators in the train station had yellow and black hazard lines on the vertical part of each step. They were grimy and dusty. It looked like some kind of jaws of a monster. They also stank of diesel soot.

I had this Fisher Price activity centre, that had this roller thing that was white and green diagonal lines. I used to love watching the lines move from left to right by rolling it until it spun by itself. But it always reminded me of the escalator lol! It looked like this...

 

[Aspychata]

Yes. As a expert in the field of absolutely nothing, l have these issues going thru my head. When the rail goes slower then feet part, and your hand in front of you ends up in back of you. Just weird. At what point do you embark on it, when it's flat or turning into stair shape. At the end of your ride, especially going down, some mall escalators speed up, and you can kinda fly off it, in a mildly irritating way. Finally l hate passing people going the other way, because l am not going to look at you. I have absolutely no reason why l won't look, (except being at this site may add insight).

 

[Yeshuasdaughter]

When I was a kid I did that, before my mother went nuts at me for doing so. I liked the idea of getting it just right so I was constantly walking but stationary. I do recall people coming down the escalator being a bit irritated, oddly they were a lot nicer about it than my mother was.

One thing that used to scare me when I was about 3 years old, was that the escalators in the train station had yellow and black hazard lines on the vertical part of each step. They were grimy and dusty. It looked like some kind of jaws of a monster. They also stank of diesel soot.

I had this Fisher Price activity centre, that had this roller thing that was white and green diagonal lines. I used to love watching the lines move from left to right by rolling it until it spun by itself. But it always reminded me of the escalator lol! It looked like this...

View attachment 101570

Oh my goodness! I had one as well!!! You just took me down memory lane.

 

[MildredHubble]

Oh my goodness! I had one as well!!! You just took me down memory lane.

That's awesome! The only two bits I remember liking a lot were the roller and the multicoloured spinner. The rest I found a little boring lol! It was fixed to the side of my cot/crib until I figured out how to unscrew the fixture on the back. I remember the tub with the butcher, baker and candlestick maker. I used to rock it back and forth and sing "see saw Marjorie door" over and over lol!

 

[WhitewaterWoman]

Yes. As an expert in the field of absolutely nothing, l have these issues going thru my head. When the rail goes slower then feet part, and your hand in front of you ends up in back of you. Just weird. At what point do you embark on it, when it's flat or turning into stair shape. At the end of your ride, especially going down, some mall escalators speed up, and you can kinda fly off it, in a mildly irritating way. Finally l hate passing people going the other way, because l am not going to look at you. I have absolutely no reason why l won't look, (except being at this site may add insight).

My problems exactly.

 

[Princess Viola]

But yes, at the very last minute, I always get this irrational sensation that my toes are going to get sucked under with the stairsteps. I step nimbly just before.

The videos and news reports of read where that very thing has happened really don't help with my dislike of escalators.

 

[Luca]

I’m terrified of both escalators and elevators

 

[LadyS]

I don't mind escalators, I just don't like the sharp edges of the stairs. Don't ask me why..just feels dangerous.

Also when I was a teen, my friend's toddler brother once got his both pinky fingers caught in a moving escalator and lost them both After that I remember being wary of them until adulthood.

 

[Kisa the tea]

I'm not that big a fan of them. The only times I see them are when I go to the airport and I actually did trip because I was very tired from a 10 hour journey. Luckily it was in the middle and stood back up quickly. My carryon fell down though so I had to quickly get that from the bottom of the escalator.

I prefer stairs personally. Or just an incline with a stair option but that is very rare and I only saw that once.
I do like the horizontal escelators though! Those are great and you can walk on them to feel like you're moving very fast!

 

[Sablerose]

My daughter hates them but she has fine motor skill issues so moving stairs were terrifying to her. Then there was the time some strange man had to cut her pants loose from one at the mall ...It was the 90s and big baggy skater pants were the style...not something to wear on moving stairs. I'm just grateful there was someone to help her when I wasn't there.

 

[Progster]

I don't like them. It's no so much because I worry about using them safely, it's because typically when the metro stops, all the passengers rush to the escalator and so they become a crowded moving strip of people. I don't like standing and waiting to get to the top, I want to keep moving. I'm usually one of the few people to take the stairs.

 

[Aspychata]

Do remember my daughter sticking either her hand or arm in elevator closing doors, and we pulled her back from the elevator door, but definitely panic moment.