Stairs, Elevators, and Escalators

I do believe escalators might be one of the only annoying things about China. They exist in every subway, food store, and mall. I generally don’t find them annoying in food stores and malls because I visit these stores at most once a week. The subway however, I’ll see about fifty escalators a week, which isn’t even an exaggeration, they’re everywhere! My gripe with the escalators is not their existence; it’s what they do to the people who use them. When a busy train lets off a large group of people at a metro stop, every single person will rush for the escalator. With almost everybody refusing to take the stairs, a line will quickly form where the people at the back are easily waiting two minutes to go up fifteen stairs. Yes I know, “just take the stairs,” you say, and I do. Except now I’m climbing through a massive surging crowd of people attempting to get through to the stairs. Once the stairs have been reached I’ll rush up and try to beat the crowd to the next set of stairs. At this point, I’m ahead of most of the people. At the next set of stairs I decide to risk it and use the escalator this time, hoping not to get stuck behind people who decide to take up the whole escalator. My path is clear and I quickly move up the escalator, taking two steps at a time, this sixty step escalator will be finished in no time. But as soon as I begin, it’s over. A few steps ahead a couple has decided to stop and take up the whole escalator. Instead of asking them to move, the following people just stop and stand as well. I’ve risked it and lost, now to stand and miss the next train. Next time I’ll be sure to stick to the stairs.