The paper claims that the lift is a legitimate topic of sociological observation and analysis. It is a great unknown in Serbian sociology, which is not also the case in the foreign most general of all social sciences, where the contributions of S. Hirschauer and J. Levin stand out. The author, in the form of 14 sociological vignettes on events in, in front of, behind and around the lift, shows and proves that „the lift is not a toy" - a mere technological invention, nor an insignificant object in urban spaces, but indeed „the smallest sociological laboratory". [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]