Follow Me Around the World

How many of you have found yourself in a multiple door opening situation, whether you were the recipient of the kind gesture or the giver? Honestly, this one is tricky. I think about this every time I find myself in this predicament. Should I say thanks once, twice, give a hearty groan, or a mumbled “yep…yep?” Should the rules be geographical? In the south I think of southern comfort, where the people hold the door for you and give a polite “thank you,” when the door is being held for them. But that isn’t the issue, the issue is what do you do with a second door? Do people in the south even give a second “thank you?” Personally, I go 50/50 depending on the mood. Sometimes it’s a “thank you” for the first door, and a quick pass through the second. Other times I’m feeling extraordinarily polite and will give a quick second “thanks.”

In New York, you’re lucky if you get a “yep” or a groan when you hold the door for someone. My opinion is that if you are ever in a multiple door situation, give a “thank you,” or “thanks,” and as far as the second door goes, the “thank you,” should be implied for the holder.

Ok so you’re probably asking yourself “well what if I am the holder of the first door, do I go run ahead and hold the second door open? What if the other person somehow sneaks in front of me and gets to the door first? Never fear, I have the solution to this interesting problem. When approaching the door with someone behind you, you clearly know if a multiple door opening situation has arisen. You see the double doors and start to panic, your heart races, what to do, what to do. Step one, relax, step two, GET TO THE DOOR FIRST. If you open the first door, most likely you can control tempo and the flow of getting through the double doors. To avoid an awkward exchange of “thank you’s” between you and the person or persons you are holding the door for, just hold the first one open, and then get to that second door as fast as possible. When there is one person it is much easier to accomplish this, if there are multiple persons going through the entranceway, most likely you will have to exchange the “thank you” back, and move on. Lastly, if you are first to hold the door open and you don’t get a “thank you,” never, ever, ever, say “thank you” when that person holds the door open for you, stick it to the man!

This entry was posted on Saturday, December 9th, 2006 at 7:06 pm and is filed under Travel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.