i was walking into my corporate prison, er, office building this morning with my daily cup o' joe in hand. approaching the double doors at the entrance, also known as the "Gates of Hell," i arrived with another condemned soul (an older gentleman roughly twice my age. poor guy). the simultaneous arrival was awkward, as neither of us were particularly inclined to open the door at first, but seconds later arrived at the decision to open the door....again at the same time.
i backed off a bit and let the old man do the honors. i followed him into the buffer area between the dual sets of doors (hereafter called the "netherland"). i politely thanked him for opening the first door for me, to which he offered a forced "you're welcome." as he reached for the second set of doors, i froze. not out of fear of entering the building and heading upstairs to my slave job as you might expect. rather, i froze from apprehension about thanking him yet again. i quickly decided to mumble a "thank you" under my breath, still not quite sure if it was appropriate.
this non-incident got me thinking. is it common courtesy to thank someone for opening 2 sets of doors? is it overkill and unnecessary? or is it rude to not "double thank?" after much deliberation (during my 3-floor elevator trip---upward, ironically), i've concluded that the second "thank you" should be assumed by the door opener if the openee had, in fact, offered the thanks in the first place. if the opener doesn't have the wherewithall to assume the second thanks, well, then they didn't deserve it in the first place.
so, there you have it. the next time 2 sets of doors are opened for you, only offer 1 "thank you." consider it a 2-for-1 deal. that's a bargain! just watch out for revolving doors. that can be a sticky situation.
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Well at least you say 'thank you' for one of the courtesies. Saying it twice seems weird, but what’s it matter? I’m sure the old dude isn’t going to think you’re queer (not that there’s anything wrong with that).
How many times have you been in public, opened a door for someone and not receive any gratitude? Now don’t get me wrong, it’s not about receiving praises for offering someone else a small, but courteous gesture. And it’s not about making yourself feel better, necessarily. It’s just what we, as a modern and civilized culture, do. We assist others whether the task is daunting or as simple as opening the door for someone at the local mall.
So it’s when those small, but kind, gestures stop that should worry you. It’s a microcosm of where our society is heading. And, of course, there’s probably a direct correlation to rise in power of the neo-cons and the elections of Dubya. Fuck him.
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