at the supermarket today, i walked into the elevator as i was leaving, and i was in a hurry to get home because i had bought a box of cornetto's, and i did not want them to go soft and distorted.
the doors stay open for about 20 seconds before they close, and i saw a woman approx 12 meters away pushing her trolley toward toward the elevator, and i saw a woman about 7 meters behind her also walking toward the elevator, followed by a man about 3 meters behind her also walking toward the elevator.
i thought "bloody hell, i have to get the doors closed before the woman gets here or she will keep the doors open for the next woman and also the man", and then it would be at least another 30-40 seconds before i started down to the carpark, so i pressed the "door close" button, and it did not immediately work, so i pressed it repeatedly and furiously to get the doors closed before the others started filing into the elevator and holding me up.
but the doors stayed open just long enough for the woman to reach the elevator, and she thanked me because she thought i was pressing the "open door" button to hold the elevator for her, and then the rest came in and also thanked me.
i did not respond and i thought "they have all just thrown away a 'thanks' in error", and i found it amusing, and i started to feel the urge to laugh, but i was able to keep it to a smirk at first.
then it occurred to me that the smirk on my face was perceived by them as a sense of "community spirit", and that my vague smile was the result of me feeling good about keeping the lift for them, and so i started to snort out short bursts of irrepressible laughter, and as the doors of the lift opened in the carpark, i walked rapidly out and burst into laughter and laughed all the way to my car, and they must have thought i was insane.
then i had a laughing fit at even that thought when i got in my car and i was unable to fit the key in the ignition for quite some time.
then i laughed even harder about the fact that one of them who was loading her shopping in her car was looking at me with a concerned face, and i thought she must think that maybe she should not have thanked me, and then that compounded my seizure of laughter and i was having trouble breathing, so i bent down as if i was looking for something on the floor so as she would not see my hysteria, and i pulled a muscle in my back.
when i got home, i went to eat a cornetto, but it was softish, and i was forced to wait for an hour after putting then in the freezer before i could have one.