Hold the Door

We've all been there before. We open a door and just before we walk through, we notice someone behind us. Because we're kind, we open the door and let that person pass. Suddenly a football team of people appear from behind the bushes, around the corner and from the sky all wanting YOU to hold the door open as they pass s l o w l y through.

Everyone has a door pet peeve. Personally, I hate it when I am right behind someone and they don't make an effort to keep the door open for me. Is it really that hard to just wait one extra second for me to grab the door from you? And, true, it's not that hard to just open up the door for myself, but it's the principle.

How about when someone decides to be nice and holds the door for you, but you are 100 yards away. You were content to lazily walk to the door, your attention focused on how nice of a day it is, but now some jackass is forcing you to hurry to the door to make it in time. In those times I like to slow my pace down even further and make eye contact with the door holder until the moment I step into the building. A full two minutes later their facial expression really sums up how both of us are feeling. It's hard to slam someone with good intensions, but honestly, if I'm more than five steps away from the door, don't worry about holding it for me.

The worst is going through a revolving door and not knowing when to jump in. When you finally do get in, the rush of trying to get in is still with you and you end up tripping and running into the glass. It's like you're a little kid trying to find the perfect moment to jump into double dutch and when you finally do jump in, you trip on the rope and skin your knees.

Here's a scientific experiment on appropriate door holding distances.

And here's Caroline Leslie to elaborate on door do's and don'ts. Man, is she a riot. Enjoy...