George Costanza
A Friendly Liberal
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?
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?
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