September 27, 2025 at 11:35 am

Man Riding An Elevator To Visit His Friend Was Asked By Two Elderly Women To Take Them To The “8 ½ Floor,” But He Couldn’t Figure Out If They Were Confused Or Messing With Him

by Heather Hall

Man stressed out in an elevator with elderly women

Pexels/Reddit

Odd requests are part of daily life, but some will leave you completely baffled.

So, what would you do if someone in an elevator asked you to take them to the “8 ½ floor?”

Would you try to reason with them? Or would you just get off at your floor and let them figure it out on their own?

In the following story, one man finds himself in this exact predicament with a few older ladies.

Here’s how it played out.

“8 1/2 floor please” request I got in an elevator

I visited a friend who lived in a 15-story high-rise apartment building.

Most of the tenants are on the older, retired side of age, but this is only by coincidence since it wasn’t a senior living building.

I got into the elevator to head up to the 11th floor where my friend lived, and picked up a couple of elderly women on the way up.

One woman requested to be taken to the 8 1/2 floor when they got in. I looked at the floor buttons and, of course, couldn’t see anywhere where there was a 1/2 floor option.

Obviously, she thought he was a doorman.

I asked her, “Do you mean the 8th or 9th floor?” and she repeated louder, “No! The 8 1/2 floor,” then looked at the other woman and rolled her eyes like I was being so difficult.

I didn’t push any buttons, so the elevator went straight to the 11th floor. I could see the women getting upset that they missed their floor (because of me, I guess), so when I got out, all I could say was, “I don’t work here, but good luck finding your floor.”

To this day, I wonder if they were just senile or if I missed out on a “Being John Malkovich” situation.

Too funny! It would be great to know what happened after that.

Let’s see what the readers at Reddit have to say about this elevator situation.

This person would’ve asked her to push the button as a way of solving the mystery.

Elevator 3 Man Riding An Elevator To Visit His Friend Was Asked By Two Elderly Women To Take Them To The “8 ½ Floor,” But He Couldn’t Figure Out If They Were Confused Or Messing With Him

According to this comment, hospitals have different levels of floors.

Elevator 2 Man Riding An Elevator To Visit His Friend Was Asked By Two Elderly Women To Take Them To The “8 ½ Floor,” But He Couldn’t Figure Out If They Were Confused Or Messing With Him

As for this reader, they think the ladies were just mixed up.

Elevator 1 Man Riding An Elevator To Visit His Friend Was Asked By Two Elderly Women To Take Them To The “8 ½ Floor,” But He Couldn’t Figure Out If They Were Confused Or Messing With Him

Here’s someone who doesn’t think it was a joke.

Elevator Man Riding An Elevator To Visit His Friend Was Asked By Two Elderly Women To Take Them To The “8 ½ Floor,” But He Couldn’t Figure Out If They Were Confused Or Messing With Him

That’s one way to handle it.

Other people may have pushed the situation further to figure out what they meant.

If you liked that post, check out this one about an employee that got revenge on HR when they refused to reimburse his travel.