Shared spaces require a bit of courtesy from everyone involved.

In this story, a man got annoyed with neighbors who constantly held the lift and made him late for work.

After one particularly annoying morning, he decided to return the favor later that day.

Read the full story below to find out more.

Holding the Lift

I live on the 7th floor of an 8-story apartment building.

My neighbors on the 5th floor leave to take their kids to school at the same time I go to work.

They frequently hold the lift for way too long in the morning.

They do this as they get everybody in the car.

This man ended up waiting for several minutes.

There is only one lift in the building, so I end up standing there waiting for several minutes.

It was especially bad one day last week. After about three minutes, I just took the stairs down.

As I passed them on the 5th floor, they were still standing in the lobby.

They were holding the lift door so it could not go anywhere.

He got super frustrated with the family’s poor etiquette.

The mom was slathering sunscreen on the kid’s face.

She was talking loudly about something. That went on for a while.

I actually beat them to the ground floor.

I was super annoyed at their poor etiquette.

He decided to play the same game.

Later that same evening, my kid and I walked into the building.

We walked in about 20 seconds before their family.

Normally, I would wait so they could get on the lift with us.

Due to their antics in the morning, we hurried.

We closed the doors and went to our apartment.

It was petty, but absolutely satisfactory.

When the lift got to the 7th floor, I held the doors open.

I did this so it could not go back down to get them.

I used my stopwatch to time two minutes.

Then, I pushed the 8th floor button before letting it go.

It was super petty of me, but I got great satisfaction. I gave them a taste of their own medicine.

Let’s read the responses of other people to this story.

Here’s what this one would do.

This user shares their personal thoughts.

This person loves the petty revenge.

Here’s another idea…

Finally, short and simple.

If you hold the lift too long, don’t be surprised when karma hits every floor.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a man who refused to keep giving his coworker rides to work because he left a mess in his car.