Perhaps the stupidist interface mistake I’ve seen recently involved the escalators at the Port Authority bus station in New York City. At one end of the station there are two escalators side-by-side that lead to the top level of gates. The left escalator ran down and the right escalator ran up (can you see where I’m going with this?). The one on the left was closed for repairs for about a month and when it opened they were reversed – the escalator on the left now runs up and vice versa.
Do I think this is bad or do I know this is bad? When I discovered this change I was walking casually toward the escalators, being early for my bus, and noticed the change. Another man was walking very quickly ahead of me, presumably running to catch a bus and, out of habit, started to climb the steps of the escalator on the right. Now imagine a man in a hurry who is not examining his already-familiar environment and possibly thinking about his daughter’s soccer match that he doesn’t want to miss and his asshole boss that won’t give him any peace and how horrible the situation in Kosovo is and then climbs up an escalator that is running down.