The Neighbor Who Never Took the Lift

Jon saw the woman from the seventh floor take the stairs every morning. He admired her fitness and once joked that she made everyone else look lazy. She smiled tightly and kept climbing.

During a residents' meeting, she asked whether the lift's warning sound could be adjusted. Several people dismissed the request. The sound was brief, and nobody else complained.

Afterward Jon apologized for his joke and asked whether she wanted to explain. Her name was Mina. A past incident in a stalled lift had left her anxious around its alarm. She used the stairs to avoid it, even when her knee hurt.

She did not want sympathy. She wanted someone to check whether the volume was necessary.