I’m tired of my 2nd floor neighbours always using the lift

I live in an HDB block and have no qualms about sharing the lift with my neighbours. Most of them anyway.

In recent months, I’ve been seeing more of my second-floor neighbours — both young and old — taking the lift instead of the single flight of stairs that bring them right to their doorsteps.

I often ask myself: “Isn’t the staircase option more efficient?”

2nd floor neighbours are young and abled, why use the lift?

I’ve been staying in the same block with these second-floor neighbours for more than a decade but only became bothered by the issue when I saw younger kids from the households picking up the habit.

It’s understandable if the elderly or those with certain medical conditions cannot take the stairs.

But I take offence when abled children — who look like they’re in kindergarten or primary school — use the lift to get to their homes on the second floor.

On one particularly infuriating occasion, the lift that serviced my block was stuck on the highest floor for about one to two minutes.

I was on the ground floor, and waiting with me was a young boy.

When the lift finally arrived, we hopped on, but imagine my annoyance when the boy’s finger reached out to the ‘2’ button. I couldn’t help but roll my eyes.

I get it, not everyone likes climbing stairs. It might be scary for some, or just plain tiring — after all, it’s easier to let a machine carry you to where you need to go.

But surely the time you spend waiting for the lift is worth more than the effort needed to climb a single flight of stairs.

Even if you take your time with the latter — especially as an energetic young person — you can probably get to your doorstep in sub one-minute.

I also wondered if the boy picked up the habit from others in his household.

If that’s the case, is it appropriate to teach kids about the “easy way out” when they’re that young?

Apart from that particular incident, there were other urgent instances where I was dying to use the toilet.

When I see my neighbours’ fingers hovering over the cursed ‘2’ button, I can’t help but cuss at them on my bladder’s behalf.

Not too different from ‘priority seat’ situation

Time and efficiency aside, is it also not more considerate to let thos...