While elevators may feel like the extension of your office or apartment, they are public spaces where decorum is necessary.

There are few places more ripe with the opportunity for awkwardness and even downright rude behaviour than lifts. They’re small, often crowded and require you to be mere inches from complete strangers.

When it comes to how to act in a lift, experts told HuffPost that you have to remember that they’re public spaces.

“People tend to forget that lifts are still public shared spaces,” said Tami Claytor, the owner of Always Appropriate Image and Etiquette Consulting.

“It’s not that you’re already in your office and you can close the door, or in your apartment and you can close the door — you’re still in a public space, and people should conduct themselves accordingly.”

“You have to observe and respect that public space just like you would someone’s home or a hotel lobby, and you must be respectful of the property itself [and] assume that there are eyes on you because there might be a camera up in the top corner,” said Diane Gottsman, a national etiquette expert and founder of the Protocol School of Texas.

Most people don’t get into a lift with the goal of being rude, but there are some common behaviours that are off-putting to your fellow lift riders.

Below, etiquette experts share the elevator no-nos that irk them most:

Not holding the door for someone else

There’s no excuse not to hold the door for someone who is coming up behind you to also get on the lift, experts told HuffPost.

While it’s rude to let the door slam in anyone’s face, Claytor added that it’s particularly rude if the person who’s walking behind you is elderly, uses medical equipment such as a walker, or has a stroller.

“There’s a gentleman who lives in my building who never holds the lift for anyone, and when my mother was alive, she used a walker, and he would not just wait a few seconds for her to catch up to him, he would just let the door........

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