The "alarm button" in the elevator.

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Have you ever pushed it? I have once.

Oh yeah. Many, MANY times.

i used to press it all the time when i was a kid. i also used to press the telephone button. i got into trouble many times in elevators.
but may more times than i got into trouble, i got away with it.

the alarm button as i remember it just stops the lift, and if you then press a numbered floor button, it will undo the alarm button, and the lift will return to normal.

as i remember the telephone button, it is either dead, or a security person answers it. you can not dial out to the public on those phones.

no never and I have never been in such situation when somebody else nearby did either....

Sometimes when I ride the tube or other trains I keep looking at that alarm button and start to imagine what will happen when it one day needs to be pushed

Have you ever lifted the cover to the emergency stop button on the escalator? I have and it gives an alarm signal.

I accidentally pressed the Alarm button when I mistook it for the Close Door button. It was in the Smithsonian Museum of History and Technology. Security guards came running from behind at least three different corners and who-else-knows-where. The speed at which they responded was amazing.

What the button does depends on what company made the elevator and when. On older Otis elevators, the button simply rings a bell but does nothing else, where on the newer ones it can actually put a call through a modem to a 911 dispatcher. Also on the older ones, there may also be a bell or light outside the building or in a security office. This should not be confused with a stop switch which in most cases will sound an alarm but in some cases will simply stop the elevator.

The phones are usually wired directly to a security office, but in elevators where it says to pick up the phone and dial a certain number, that will be just a regular phone with a dial tone. I remember there being an elevator at my high school (in the days before cell phones were popular) where people would often flip the stop switch while between floors and make calls on the phone. I remember ordering a pizza from the elevator phone once.

No, I have never pressed such a button. Once in elementary school, I smashed the glass on the fire alarm in a rage when I was being picked on by the other kids. I didn't press the button inside, though.

Oh, it is so, so tempting. I've never actually pushed it though.

When my younger brother (who also has AS) was 4, he pushed one of the big red "EMERGENCY STOP" buttons at an airport escalator. Everyone had to push their very heavy luggage trollies down the static escalator. They were not amused.

There are alarms buttons on handicap toilets here.

I once pushed said button as a kid when I was at a dentist. During that visit I also managed to bring down a hat hanger. And the dentist was of African persuasion, and since I never had met a coloured person I naturally examined my hand after I had shook hands with her.

...yeah I was a weird kid.

"Coloured person"? You're still a weird kid...and not in a good way.

Hey, I was trying to be politically correct. Please tell me what's wrong or retract your statement.

I've never done this personally but I've always been afraid to get stuck inside escalators

Yes.

How does one get stuck inside an escalator?

In the U.S. "colored" is an offensive term, far from being politically correct. Oddly however "person of color" (which has the same meaning) is seen as P.C..