The Elevator Knows

Press the button for your floor and the screen tells you which elevator is for you. Is it A or F? B or D? Which one will take you to your destination? Simultaneously simple and confusing. Find your ride, go through the door Enter and there are no buttons to push. The elevator knows where to take you. Silently the doors shut and you ride to your destination. Floor 3 , floor 8 , maybe 10. Whatever has been programmed in, that’s where you’re taken. No change of mind to hop off at 4 or 9.
The elevator is in charge. Efficient? Probably. Odd. A little and uncomfortable. A change in how one experiences a common activity. Now I have to think, can’t be on auto pilot as I head for my room or the lobby. What do I push? Which one (elevator) will be mine?
And where’s the fun for the four year old as they enter the car. So grown up, in charge as they press the buttons and tell the car where to go? Now they get a lesson in the alphabet at the lobby level.
Want to experience the elevator that guides you? Visit the JW Marriott (www.marriott.com) hotel in Washington, DC (www.washington.org) and take a ride.