This is an awful and stupid sign.
Do you know how I know this?
I was standing in this very elevator in Long Beach, California, with three other men — four of us in all — ascending to the seventh floor.
Then the elevator stopped on the third floor. The doors opened. Another man entered.
Five people were now occupying the elevator. Four plus me.
So which is it? Are four or five occupants deemed safe for the operation of this elevator?
It matters now.
If it’s five, no problem. We are currently at the elevator’s maximum allowance. As long as no one else boards the elevator before one of us exits, all will be fine.
But if it’s four, we’re in trouble because we’ve now exceeded the maximum safe limit.
Are we safe?
Could the hotel or the elevator company make up its mind and pick a damn number?
When it comes to safety, choose one number. Not a range of numbers.
Otherwise, people like me, who pay attention to signage, will spend four floors thinking about a horrible death at the bottom of an elevator shaft because of your lack of specificity.
