Opening The Door

Social awkwardness creeps into our lives in a variety of ways. It doesn't necessarily have to be profound in order to produce a sense of 'I wish there was a better way we could do this'. One subtle way that this is seen is in the cordial opening of doors for others.

A door is a simple thing. Not much too 'em. They have knobs or handles. They swing in and out, relative to where you stand. But that's just enough to feel a bit ridiculous.

When approaching a door with another person (assuming that you're going to open the door for this other person), a few things come to mind. Should i take an extra step forward and go for the handle, knob, or whatever? Complications arise when the door does not pull out. If you have to push the door in, you might end up stretched across the whole face of the door while the person you're with squeezes past you. And if your reasoning for opening the door to begin with was that this other person was too incredibly loaded with stuff to do it herself or himself, he or she will have a harder time getting by. Incidentally, if you feel like you have the manners to open a door for a heavily laden person and yet don't even think to help lighten the load, you might as well forego the niceties.

And if this inward-opening door is relatively heavy? Your appreciative friend may be able to squeeze past the one foot crack that you so humbly provide. So much for manners.

And if you find yourself holding a door, what happens if more people arrive? Should you stay to offer your kindness to the rest of the world or do you quickly rush in? If you stay, your friend, whom you let inside ten minutes ago may get a bit irritated at your people-pleasing skills. And what about those pleased people? If you gave them the chance, maybe you could give one of them doorman duty, but it seems as if they've already analyzed your relationship with your friend who is now dozing on the carpet. They glance to and fro, knowing full well what's happening and concluding that you're quite an indecisive doorman.