At my university (NYU) they actually had security guards posted at all the ground floor elevator doors to tell people how to get on and off the elevators. No joke.

But ultimately, this exercise isn't about building the best possible elevator simulator. It's about showing people how to use Perl's threading support. In fact, if anyone could show me how to build a dumber, simpler simulator that still works I'd probably use that. The elevator algorithm is really just a distraction here.

-sam