Mythbusters: Do the "Close Door" Buttons on Elevators Actually Work?

What do you do when you're on an elevator and you're in a rush? Or if you want to selfishly take the elevator by yourself? Of course, you go for the ol' "close door" button.

Those "close door" buttons on elevators are always the butt of small jokes people make: "I bet that doesn't even do anything."

But for most people (or at least for me), I always had just assumed that it did, in fact, make the elevator door close faster.

However, according to a recent article in the New Yorkers, that button is just a placebo:

"...elevator manufacturers have sought to trick the passengers into thinking they’re driving the conveyance. In most elevators, at least in any built or installed since the early nineties, the door-close button doesn’t work. It is there mainly to make you think it works. (It does work if, say, a fireman needs to take control. But you need a key, and a fire, to do that.)" (Emphasis added; Link)

I haven't tested this for myself, but the more I think about it, those doors never did seem to close in a hurry after I would push the buttons.

So next time you're in an elevator, don't even bother with that button... and laugh at those who try.