Going up?

When it comes to getting to the upper floors, i'm all for taking the stairs as much as possible - unless it's the 22nd floor of a tower block (and i have lived that high once before). It's something of a source of amusement to me when people stand around waiting for lifts only to go up one floor - when a little more effort would save them a lot of time, and also help to burn a few extra calories and, lets face it, most people who use the lifts like that need it. Going up is one thing, but using the lift to go down as well?! And don't get me even started on the floor numbers here!

Anyway, the reason for this rant is the rather peculiar design of some of the buildings over here. My lab is in the Strom Thurmond Building of MUSC. On the whole this is a nice enough building (although i have been told it's not the best place to be in either a hurricane or an earthquake). There is also one slight flaw - with both this and others. There is no stair access to the lobby. The stairs go straight outside - and, in some ways, i get this cause they're mainly used as fire exits - but for anyone slightly health conscious it's a pain in the ass. The stair cases themselves are pretty awful too - hot, smelly and generally unpleasant. Is it any wonder that people want to use the lifts (although one of them in this building has a rather worrying habit of making thumping noises whenever you're in it). And in a country this obese, can they afford to encourage people to use the lifts? I suppose it saves on them having to put defib paddles at the top of every staircase, eh?