This is really not a big deal but I decided to post a blog about it because everyone deals with it but no one really talks about it.
Every morning I park in the garage at work and walk down the stairs and then about 50 feet to the side door. Every morning about 25 feet away from the door, some guy walks in and then holds the door for me. I then, depending on how far back I am from the door, have to speed walk or trot. This would be quite alright if I had my running shoes on, but 9 times out of 10, I have super high heels on that make it extremely awkward for me to trot in. So I end up feeling self conscious about trotting and looking stupid doing it (then again, who actually looks good trotting in high heels??). But it's just as awkward vice versa. I'm walking up and about 20 feet behind me there's a guy. I open the door and fatally turn my head to look behind me, out of habit. Yikes, now I have to wait anywhere from 30 seconds- 1 minute for the guy to get there. But you always pause as a female...should you hold a door open for a dude? You go back and forth.....yeah, because they hold the door open for you.....or no, they're dudes, they'll live. Anyway, if you have a guilty conscious like me, you hold open the door. So they end up trotting up so as to not make you wait very long. Sadly, on almost all the guys I hold the door open for and watch them trot up, I also see the beginnings of a sweat line across the forehead. That's just not fair for them to start their day off sweating.
My question is.....where is the line? I understand a couple feet behind a person, you hold the door open--that's common courtesy. And if they don't do it....you can be sure that I call them out on it--"Yeah, it's cool, you don't need to hold the door for me--I got it." But 15-25 feet plus behind a person? Isn't that too much? Should we really feel obligated to hold a door open when a person is that far back? I don't know about you but I don't want to start my work day out of breath.
Here's what I decided to try doing........not making eye contact. It works! You see the person ahead of you enter the door and you have no desire to run/trot/speed walk to make their life easier....instead, look up at the trees as if you see a special breed of bird that no one has ever seen. Or, I tried this one the other day, you think that maybe your cell phone might be ringing at 7:45am and you dig through your purse to find it, all the while muttering "Who could be calling me this early?" just in case they are in hearing distance. These tactics can also be used if you are the one entering the building. Obviously, if you are looking at the birds in the trees or trying to find the cell phone in your purse, you can be excused from "holding the door" duty, right?
This may seem absurd to some people but for those people that deal with this on a daily basis, you may be excited to try my new tactic. It may seem difficult at first but the relief it brings is so worth it!!!
My question is.....where is the line? I understand a couple feet behind a person, you hold the door open--that's common courtesy. And if they don't do it....you can be sure that I call them out on it--"Yeah, it's cool, you don't need to hold the door for me--I got it." But 15-25 feet plus behind a person? Isn't that too much? Should we really feel obligated to hold a door open when a person is that far back? I don't know about you but I don't want to start my work day out of breath.
Here's what I decided to try doing........not making eye contact. It works! You see the person ahead of you enter the door and you have no desire to run/trot/speed walk to make their life easier....instead, look up at the trees as if you see a special breed of bird that no one has ever seen. Or, I tried this one the other day, you think that maybe your cell phone might be ringing at 7:45am and you dig through your purse to find it, all the while muttering "Who could be calling me this early?" just in case they are in hearing distance. These tactics can also be used if you are the one entering the building. Obviously, if you are looking at the birds in the trees or trying to find the cell phone in your purse, you can be excused from "holding the door" duty, right?
This may seem absurd to some people but for those people that deal with this on a daily basis, you may be excited to try my new tactic. It may seem difficult at first but the relief it brings is so worth it!!!
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