Is it really worth tipping someone to open a door or press a button in an elevator? I never understood the need for this position, let alone why anyone would ever tip them.
There are plenty of older buildings with manual elevators (as in direct control of the motor), and they're a bit tricky to line up with the platform accurately. I regularly visit two buildings with such elevators and only one has an operator on staff. If people are being paid to 'operate' modern automatic elevators it is indeed quite silly though.