People,Elevators and Balances

There are two lifts in the building that I spend most of my day. One of them conks of without notice. It was that time of the week, when the sluggish one thought it needed to 'creak' for the oil.
A gentleman was about to get into this lift. Having seen the elevator 'out of order' for the last two days, i just told him that it might not be a good idea to use this. Probably I shouldn't have said that. he seemed to have taken offence.
Yesterday, a woman went into this lift and she just came out. I just asked her if there was any problem. She said the lift was acting weird moving up and down like a common balance and she thought it better to use the other lift..
A lift at the library here, is like a two way spring balance.