Yes, escalators have stop-buttons and you can turn them off yourself!
Friday evening, 7 pm. Not many people are still working in the university building. And certainly no Dutch. Their weekend, which starts at Thursday night, is holy. I’m one of the rare who doesn’t care about Friday nights.
On my way out, I pass the escalators. They are always running. Bzzzzzzzzz….. even though there are no people making use of the silly moving stairs, they are still using energy. What a waste. There must be a stop-button, right?
Yes, there is! It’s round and red, just like a stop-button should look like. I press the stop-button. BzzzzzSTOP! Ha, that’s fun. Now the other one. What a satisfaction. I walk down one floor, there are another two escalators. BzzzzzzzzSTOP! BzzzzzzzzSTOP! Total silence remains. Four pair of African eyes, three pair of Asian eyes and a pair of Latin-American eyes stare at me. They must think I’m out of my mind.
When I walk out of the university building, a big smile appears on my face.
“the time has come to push the button” haha
There are escalators that power down when not used. Too bad you don’t have them where you are.