People Who Hold Doors Open For Others

[George Costanza]

You're walking out of a building. You are thirty or forty feet from the door. In the doorway is some clown who is also leaving the building. He glances back, over his shoulder, and sees you coming. Remember - you are thirty or forty feet away from the door. What does he do? He stands there, holding the door open for you. He also is staring intently at your face with this "gee, aren't I a nice guy because I'm holding the door for you?" expression on his stupid mug.

Now, you feel obligated to pick up the pace in order to reduce the amount of time Mr. Good Guy has to stand there with his arm straight out at an awkward angle, holding the door open.

I, for one, resent this. I, for one, don't want to feel obligated to pick up the pace, just because some moron with a kind heart thinks he's doing me a favor by holding the door open for me. I don't need him to hold the door open. I am perfectly capable of opening my own door. I am also perfecly capable of catching it as it comes at me in the event the person in front of me elects not to hold the door open for me. No problem.

I wonder sometimes, if these good samaratins ever stop to think that, by holding doors open for folks who are long distances away from the door involved, they are putting the other person in the position of having to either walk much faster than they otherwise intended or appear to be a jerk for not doing so.

The critical part of my criticism here has to do with the long distance between the door and the person it is being held open for. If someone is right in front of you, yes - then holding the door open is probably the proper thing to do. But NOT when you are 30 or 40 feet away from the door.

It's not worth the trade-off to me. Walk out the door and keep going. Not necessary to hold it for me, thank you very much.

Anyone else ever get bothered by this?

 

[random3434]

No. I hold the door for women, children, and men.


It's just good manners.

Some say thank you, some don't.


I like it when someone holds the door for me too.

 

[George Costanza]

No. I hold the door for women, children, and men.


It's just good manners.

Some say thank you, some don't.


I like it when someone holds the door for me too.

I agree. But when the person coming towards the door is 30 or 40 feet away? Come on.

You're just easy . . .

 

[SFC Ollie]

If I were that far back I think I would stop, get down on one knee, and retie my shoelace.

Now 10 to 15 feet i can understand...

And I do typically hold the door for anyone who is that close.

 

[Samson]

George, I'm happy that someone has the courage to state the fact.

Happily, I've only been troubled by young, sexy women that seem to insist they hold the door for me, staring deeply into my eyes, licking their lips as I cheerfully pass.

 

[strollingbones]

you would hate the south...i hold open doors for people...hell we even get up from a seat to hold the door....

i thank anyone who hold or opens the door for me....

as echo said...good manners

 

[strollingbones]

how can you call yourself a 'friendly liberal'

 

[uscitizen]

No. I hold the door for women, children, and men.


It's just good manners.

Some say thank you, some don't.


I like it when someone holds the door for me too.

I agree. But when the person coming towards the door is 30 or 40 feet away? Come on.

You're just easy . . .

And I will bet with you being a cheapskate, you have never tipped em either?

 

[Sherry]

Quit yer bitchin' and get the lead out!!

 

[uscitizen]

I like to do that to people. Watch em em speed up and then when they get going let the door loose and just walk away as if nothing is going on.
.

 

[Paulie]

You're walking out of a building. You are thirty or forty feet from the door. In the doorway is some clown who is also leaving the building. He glances back, over his shoulder, and sees you coming. Remember - you are thirty or forty feet away from the door. What does he do? He stands there, holding the door open for you. He also is staring intently at your face with this "gee, aren't I a nice guy because I'm holding the door for you?" expression on his stupid mug.

Now, you feel obligated to pick up the pace in order to reduce the amount of time Mr. Good Guy has to stand there with his arm straight out at an awkward angle, holding the door open.

I, for one, resent this. I, for one, don't want to feel obligated to pick up the pace, just because some moron with a kind heart thinks he's doing me a favor by holding the door open for me. I don't need him to hold the door open. I am perfectly capable of opening my own door. I am also perfecly capable of catching it as it comes at me in the event the person in front of me elects not to hold the door open for me. No problem.

I wonder sometimes, if these good samaratins ever stop to think that, by holding doors open for folks who are long distances away from the door involved, they are putting the other person in the position of having to either walk much faster than they otherwise intended or appear to be a jerk for not doing so.

The critical part of my criticism here has to do with the long distance between the door and the person it is being held open for. If someone is right in front of you, yes - then holding the door open is probably the proper thing to do. But NOT when you are 30 or 40 feet away from the door.

It's not worth the trade-off to me. Walk out the door and keep going. Not necessary to hold it for me, thank you very much.

Anyone else ever get bothered by this?

There's a certain distance where you draw the line on holding it. A couple steps, max. It doesn't need to be a set distance, you just KNOW when it's too much.

I don't hold a door for someone in expectation of ANYTHING. It's just something nice to do.

People are generally selfish assholes. It's nice to sometimes do something, or have something done for you, to remind us all that we're not ALL selfish assholes ALL the time.

 

[Paulie]

30 or 40 feet away is too much.

If you're going to hold the door for someone through 40 feet of walking, you might as well just post up at a business and be the doorman for the day.

 

[Mr. H.]

I've been in that situation. Most times we'll make eye contact, and I'll start walking in slow motion.
Then we both laugh. Just make some fun out of an akward situation. Life's a gas.

 

[Ragnar]

Well at 30-40 feet I'm engaged in lighting a cigarette (sans wind/rain etc) if I am on the way out of a building so Mr. Johnny-do-Gooder can present some problems in that case.

However, I've been guilty of overextending the open door policy myself though I tend to be using the door as a wind shield to light a cig at the time (if I could not locate my lighter in the usual 40 foot range).

The worst (IMHO) is the all too common double doors which creates a bizarre sort of politeness challenging glottal stop for do-gooder-ness and is also the perfect cigarette lighting spot as you can't be hindered by wind or industrial AC's blasting away. In those cases it's all I can do to keep from rolling my eyes at the dope thinking "dude. I'm a man, don't hold that crap for me ya jerk".

My three cents.

 

[uscitizen]

Have automatic doors lowered American common courtesy?

 

[Paulie]

Well at 30-40 feet I'm engaged in lighting a cigarette (sans wind/rain etc) if I am on the way out of a building so Mr. Johnny-do-Gooder can present some problems in that case.

However, I've been guilty of overextending the open door policy myself though I tend to be using the door as a wind shield to light a cig at the time (if I could not locate my lighter in the usual 40 foot range).

The worst (IMHO) is the all too common double doors which creates a bizarre sort of politeness challenging glottal stop for do-gooder-ness and is also the perfect cigarette lighting spot as you can't be hindered by wind or industrial AC's blasting away. In those cases it's all I can do to keep from rolling my eyes at the dope thinking "dude. I'm a man, don't hold that crap for me ya jerk".

My three cents.

Yeah dudes holding doors for dudes does present a certain gray area

 

[Mr. H.]

Well at 30-40 feet I'm engaged in lighting a cigarette (sans wind/rain etc) if I am on the way out of a building so Mr. Johnny-do-Gooder can present some problems in that case.

However, I've been guilty of overextending the open door policy myself though I tend to be using the door as a wind shield to light a cig at the time (if I could not locate my lighter in the usual 40 foot range).

The worst (IMHO) is the all too common double doors which creates a bizarre sort of politeness challenging glottal stop for do-gooder-ness and is also the perfect cigarette lighting spot as you can't be hindered by wind or industrial AC's blasting away. In those cases it's all I can do to keep from rolling my eyes at the dope thinking "dude. I'm a man, don't hold that crap for me ya jerk".

My three cents.

Yeah dudes holding doors for dudes does present a certain gray area

You homophrobe!

 

[uscitizen]

Homodoor? Can I copyright that?

 

[Paulie]

Well at 30-40 feet I'm engaged in lighting a cigarette (sans wind/rain etc) if I am on the way out of a building so Mr. Johnny-do-Gooder can present some problems in that case.

However, I've been guilty of overextending the open door policy myself though I tend to be using the door as a wind shield to light a cig at the time (if I could not locate my lighter in the usual 40 foot range).

The worst (IMHO) is the all too common double doors which creates a bizarre sort of politeness challenging glottal stop for do-gooder-ness and is also the perfect cigarette lighting spot as you can't be hindered by wind or industrial AC's blasting away. In those cases it's all I can do to keep from rolling my eyes at the dope thinking "dude. I'm a man, don't hold that crap for me ya jerk".

My three cents.

Yeah dudes holding doors for dudes does present a certain gray area

You homophrobe!

Well a hot woman, it might lead to an ice breaker. But another guy?

I mean, I'm not saying I don't do it, but where I might wait 40 feet for a woman, I'm giving the dude about 5 steps.

 

[Douger]

murkinz.
Clueless.