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View Full Version : Awkward interactions with strangers


Nuzzolese
11-03-2009, 06:22 PM
Sometimes I find myself walking toward a door, and just as I'm about to walk through it from one direction, someone else starts coming through it from the other side, the side where they had to pull it toward themselves. The only way to deal with this is one person is going to have to walk through the door first.

If you have the door coming to you and you have your hands on it already, you've one of two options; you can either hold it open and stand back, allowing the other person to pass, or you can walk through first and let the other person handle the door all by themselves.

But then some people do this awkward, meaningless gesture in which they try in vain to outsmart the laws of doors by attempting to combine the two methods. They walk through the doorway but still try to hold the door open for you by standing IN the actual doorway blocking your path and extending their arm out behind them. This I cannot deal with.

Just get out of the way! Let the door fall, I'll catch it, promise. I won't try to dive through it like Indiana Jones. I don't want to try to squeeze into the doorway with you for the door trade-off. I don't like you, you're a stranger. Some people!





I also hate the pedestrian intersection. Have you ever been walking and you see someone else walking over there, and you start to eye their path and suddenly you realize that their path is going to intersect with yours very, very soon, so you try to slow down or speed up in order to avoid a collision only to notice them compensating in some annoying, unpredictable way, so that finally you have misjudged the timing of it all and you have to pause or dance around each other, thereby acknowledging the other person's existence which was what you were trying to avoid?

Bob
11-03-2009, 06:27 PM
But then some people do this awkward, meaningless gesture in which they try in vain to outsmart the laws of doors by attempting to combine the two methods. They walk through the doorway but still try to hold the door open for you by standing IN the actual doorway blocking your path and extending their arm out behind them. This I cannot deal with.

Just get out of the way! Let the door fall, I'll catch it, promise. I won't try to dive through it like Indiana Jones. I don't want to try to squeeze into the doorway with you for the door trade-off. I don't like you, you're a stranger. Some people!


i'm guilty of doing this at times :(

NicRN77
11-03-2009, 06:28 PM
I also hate the pedestrian intersection. Have you ever been walking and you see someone else walking over there, and you start to eye their path and suddenly you realize that their path is going to intersect with yours very, very soon, so you try to slow down or speed up in order to avoid a collision only to notice them compensating in some annoying, unpredictable way, so that finally you have misjudged the timing of it all and you have to pause or dance around each other, thereby acknowledging the other person's existence which was what you were trying to avoid?

This annoys me. I always feel like I'm invisible in this sort of situation and I am the one who moves over to let the person pass me.

hpdrifter
11-03-2009, 06:29 PM
well stop, it's annoying!

Echewta
11-03-2009, 07:22 PM
I thought this thread was going to be about me and my dad.

insertnamehere
11-03-2009, 10:57 PM
i hate it when im going up to a door and someone is behind me, but not right behind me, and i dont know if they're close enough to hold the door open for or too far away for it to be practical. its awkward if you hold the door and then it takes them forever to get to it and you're just standing there holding the door and smiling at them for five minutes but you look like a douche if you just walk through and let the door close.

if someone holds the door for me and im too far away, i will run to get to the door faster.

lolkat
11-03-2009, 10:59 PM
wai to spell dumass

checkyourprez
11-03-2009, 11:02 PM
i hate it when im going up to a door and someone is behind me, but not right behind me, and i dont know if they're close enough to hold the door open for or too far away for it to be practical. its awkward if you hold the door and then it takes them forever to get to it and you're just standing there holding the door and smiling at them for five minutes but you look like a douche if you just walk through and let the door close.

if someone holds the door for me and im too far away, i will run to get to the door faster.

just hold it open for half a second, no look/acknowledgment that they are there. if they catch it good for them, if not, they were too far to be holding a door for anyways.

Nuzzolese
11-04-2009, 10:22 AM
if someone holds the door for me and im too far away, i will run to get to the door faster.

Me too, but when I'm the one holding the door I feel bad for implying that they should hurry up. It's not like an air hatch on a space ship. They can open it right up again in a second, there's no need to rush. Then once they come through the door, the two of you are there together and now you're walking together or you have to maneuver your way around each other toward your next exit or whatever. It's all very uncomfortable.





A few months ago I was at Blockbuster and I was next in line to check out. The girls in front of me were putting stuff back in their purses or something and this guy cuts in front of the line and puts his candy on the counter like he's next. Then he looks back at me and goes "oh, there's a line?" So he steps back, but places himself in front of me. I don't understand how someone can recognize what a line is, but only partly realize how they work.

jabumbo
11-04-2009, 10:36 AM
i always carry a few pieces of hard candy in my pockets to share with strangers

mickill
11-04-2009, 02:55 PM
You'll find that if you dance while walking, people just sort of stay out of your way altogether.