Just Saying | Common courtesy isn't quite so common in Hong Kong

Every time I use the lift in my residential building, I look at a sign that says, "Please do not spit". It seems incongruous in the settings of my estate, which is full of well-heeled residents sunning themselves by the clubhouse pool or driving fancy cars. But that sign is embarrassing testimony to the fact that some of those folks in my building did indeed spit in the lift at some stage and had to be reminded not to.

It gets me thinking about the shortage of basic civic sense and common courtesy in Hong Kong, starting with lift etiquette. What is the compunction to rush into a lift and hit the door-close button before you even press a floor number? Is it that important to ensure nobody else gets in?

Picture this, because it has happened to me so many times: I find the lift waiting on the ground floor, and when the doors open, there's a startled looking individual inside. I press the number for my floor and find he hasn't even punched in his own number - he was in such a hurry to hit the door-close button before anyone else got in, he forgot to press his own floor number. The startled look on his face when I stepped in was because he realised the lift hadn't moved.

Not holding the door open for someone is another display of bad manners endemic in Hong Kong. It's so basic: after you open a door, just hold it for whoever is directly behind you. The extra energy required is negligible and you earn a little goodwill. How hard can that be?

I've often experienced this peculiar scenario where three people are heading for a door, myself being the third person, and after the first one pushes or pulls it open, the second person quickly slips through while the door is in mid-swing, angling his or her body like a limbo dancer. The momentum generated by the first person doesn't last long enough to let a third person through, so I end up with the door in my face. It borders on the bizarre.