Holding doors open - what's the protocol? (1 Viewer)

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Holding doors open can stress me out. Like if someone is a good 30 feet behind me walking toward a building, I don't know my obligations.

Does gender matter? Does sex matter? Species identity? Does age matter? Distance of person behind you? Do you just hold it for the person behind you to grab, or do you hold it and let them pass? How big of a group do you have to let pass if you're holding it open for them?

Generally, if the person is old or a woman, I'll hold it open while they pass. If it's a dude I'll just hold open it while he takes the handle. I have about a 20-foot cushion where I'll wait for them. After that, I just barrel in (unless it's a special circumstance like hands full or wheelchair or whatever).

What are the rules these days?

I also get worn out if someone is way ahead of me holding the door. Like I feel like I need to do that little shuffle walk to look like I'm trying to hurry, but I didn't ask for this. I mean opening a door isn't that hard for me. I have functioning arms and legs. Isn't it just time to let this die out (again, barring special circumstances)?
 
If the person isn't elderly or overly laden, 5 seconds away is about the limit.
 
If you are a woman, kid, elderly, or have your hands full, I will wait an exceptionally long time to hold a door open for you.

Karma is real and I have a lot of making up to do.
 
If the person isn't elderly or overly laden, 5 seconds away is about the limit.

Does overly laden mean really fat?

I agree with your assessment. And it doesn't make that much difference about gender, although I will probably make more of an effort to step in for a female.

I will add - I like to do one good deed a day. When I can, I like to get that out of the way with something easy like this so that I am stuck doing something that really takes some effort later.
 
you don't hold it open for someone who's far enough away for the door to shut by itself
it puts too much onus on the other person - like they have to quicken up so you don't burden yourself even more

basically i think the door holding thing is about traffic flow- you're compromising your time to quicken up the overall flow (most women don't wear hoopskirts anymore so the burden of door opening is not what it was)
so if you want to facilitate everyone's ingress/egress hold the door
if your politeness actually gunks up the works, leave it be
 
I hold the door for my wife, sister and the elderly, in this progressive world we live in, everyone else can open own damn door.
 
I hold the door for whomever happens to be in my vicinity. Oddly enough, I've never once had someone say something derogatory to me about it. Weird.
 
Always err on the side of holding the door open, that's my viewpoint...There's no rules except that, just err on the side of holding it open, no matter the gender of the person approaching
 
Was at McDonald's the other day and held the door open for a lady coming out. No "thank you" or even acknowledgement that I was even there.....that ticks me off enough to make me not want to hold it for anyone else. I typically hold doors for whomever is there unless they're not paying attention and lollygagging. I expect the shuffle if I'm standing there holding the door.....I have places to go and things to do also. If I stop everything to hold the door for you I expect some effort on your part to speed up to help me get going through my day again. If not I let it go.
 
I hold the door for whomever happens to be in my vicinity. Oddly enough, I've never once had someone say something derogatory to me about it. Weird.


This is pretty much me. Though I actually had a woman get mad at me once that she could open the door herself then she got mad again when I shut in her face. I also had a guy shut the door on me once but to be fair he was a Panther fan and it was after the MNF game.
 

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