Whats for the Members-Only???

Four days a week I race from the Capitol South metro station to the Rayburn office building, after passing through security I am left staring at four elevators which go to my floor four levels above. Its always peculiar to me how three out of the four elevators seem to be at the most inconvenient points in the building any given time I am trying to board. All the while one elevator is usually left laughing at you just a floor or so nearby, the Members only elevator. In case you haven’t been in a Congressional office building, the members-only elevators are located at every elevator bank for the exclusive use of members of congress. The member may invite someone to ride with them, yet a staffer is not allowed to ride alone. Perks, such as the members’ only elevator, are brought to light in Jack Anderson piece entitled “Washington’s Curious Caste System”. The plethora of perks that Anderson describes range from the type and color of rugs in an office, to the type of car you’re driven in or drive, even to what kind of sofa sits in a lobby. Even in the Supreme Court, justices are left to drive themselves while Chief Justice Roberts goes about in a limo. My curiosity into what these perks truly felt like was only furthered by the fact I now knew of their existence, yet wasn’t allowed to partake in their pleasures. The perfect opportunity to truly see what such perks felt like finally did came… I rode the Members only elevator with my boss. I would like to tell you that it sped from floor to floor at the speed of light, or offered an open bar with no tip jar in sight; alas it did not. To be honest I couldn’t pick anything out that changed the experience from riding another elevator. I was left with was wondering if the same holds true for all the rest.