Hold the door.

[Gary Allan]

Originally Posted By: andyd
I see and practice random acts of kindness. It is paying off, I see other people doing it too. I like holding doors for people, it lets them know that I'm not a savage. A smile doesn't hurt either


It's a good disposition to adopt and it can be contagious. Not everyone feels that way, but that doesn't discount your acts and the acts of others. Being a living example of goodwill is never a waste.

 

[d00df00d]

Originally Posted By: Schmoe
Got to go with green on this....more of a Yankee thing than down here in the south lands. In my travels, it just seems like a lot of folks are "stuck-up" in the north. I guess with so many people and over crowding, you just fiend for yourself.

That's part of it.

I think part of it is also that the North tends to identify itself as more liberal/progressive/[pick your buzzword], and isn't always good at it. In the process of trying to modernize our ethics and values, we seem to have broken the old ones before the new ones were ready to be picked up...

 

[sxg6]

Lived in various new england states all my life, always hold the door open, and I get thank you about 80% of the time. Yankees are polite too, despite what many want to think.

 

[d00df00d]

Originally Posted By: Gary Allan
Originally Posted By: andyd
I see and practice random acts of kindness. It is paying off, I see other people doing it too. I like holding doors for people, it lets them know that I'm not a savage. A smile doesn't hurt either


It's a good disposition to adopt and it can be contagious. Not everyone feels that way, but that doesn't discount your acts and the acts of others. Being a living example of goodwill is never a waste.

It definitely is contagious. We are social animals. Every action you take in the presence of others makes the world a tiny bit friendlier to that kind of action.

 

[Schmoe]

I'll back track on my statement. Most of the "country" Yankees, i.e. those living outside of massive suburbia and cities/towns are pretty good folk.

 

[sxg6]

Originally Posted By: Schmoe
I'll back track on my statement. Most of the "country" Yankees, i.e. those living outside of massive suburbia and cities/towns are pretty good folk.


I agree with this. Bigger cities and towns in the North do tend to have a colder, less friendly vibe imo.

 

[BR549]

My son(13 yrs old) has been taught to ALWAYS hold the door for his mother or any other females present. Ladies should never touch a door handle when a male is around. He gets alot of compliments from people for his manners.

 

[Shannow]

The practice died 15 years ago with militant feminism.

It's come back the last 5 years, with either sex holding the door for theirs or the opposite sex, and almost invariably greeted with thanks.

It's good to see.

 

[Scienceman]

Originally Posted By: sxg6
Originally Posted By: Schmoe
I'll back track on my statement. Most of the "country" Yankees, i.e. those living outside of massive suburbia and cities/towns are pretty good folk.


I agree with this. Bigger cities and towns in the North do tend to have a colder, less friendly vibe imo.
Originally Posted By: BR549
My son(13 yrs old) has been taught to ALWAYS hold the door for his mother or any other females present. Ladies should never touch a door handle when a male is around. He gets alot of compliments from people for his manners.

 

[crinkles]

kind lady held the door open for me today... was with two toddlers walking around and baby in pram so i guess a man can take kindly to that. of course i thanked her profusely.

 

[refaller]

As an urban yankee who teaches my boys to do the same, I would say that the majority of people thank us and compliment my children. If I am in Center City it is a bit different, but if you sat and held the doors there, you would never get to your destination- hard to know when to let go once you start holding!

ref

 

[GROUCHO MARX]

Don't get me started on the topics of courtesy and consideration.

 

[andyd]

I started holding doors because the rudest thing in life is to have a door shut just as you reach it. That is my measure. If the door is gonna be closed by the time a person reaches it, fine. But to have the closer snap the door shut just as you reach it, is too much symbolism to me. Besides, it puts someone else on point.

 

[panthermike]

Funny, I was just talking to someone about this the other day. I would say half the time they don't say thank you.

I sometimes use Dieseltech's method of "you're welcome", when I'm in a bad mood at least.

 

[L_Sludger]

I don't hold doors open for people and I don't expect doors to be held open for me. I do say thank you to door open-holders but wish that they didn't put me in the position to thank them.

 

[Gary Allan]

There's a balance there ..not much of a social component ..but balance.

(there's a smile here)

Would I be correct in thinking that you might say, "Don't trespass against me so I don't have to forgive you ....make that since I won't forgive you". ???

 

[silverrat]

How about people who don't hold the door but sneak through it sideways before it closes to avoid touching it. I see some women do that.

 

[expat]

My problem is: I open the door, pass through, then look back so I don't unintentionally close the door in someone's face.
Now, at what distance/time must I allow for a following person to reach the door?
It's not easy being polite!
Some people drag their feet, or like yesterday the Lady got 'distracted' in the last 10' before the door.
I'm left standing like a Putz, just wanting to get on with my life.

 

[Big_Ed]

Several years ago, I was in a line of people walking through a door. Each person was just a few feet behind the one in front of them, so it would make sense that each person would simply "hand off" the open door to the next person. The guy in front of me didn't try to hold the door open even for himself. He just quickly slinked sideways through the door as it was closing, like he was MacGuyver going through the electically closing gate. He knew I was behind him, but he made no effort to do anything more than sneak through the rapidly closing door. Maybe he was a germophobe and didn't want to touch the door or something. The door shut just as I was coming up to it. Now of course it was no big deal to open it myself, but I thought it was pretty rude nonetheless. As I opened it, I said, "Thanks", sarcastically loud enough for him to hear. I then handed the open door off to the next person with kind of a smirk on my face.

 

[L_Sludger]

Originally Posted By: Gary Allan
There's a balance there ..not much of a social component ..but balance.

(there's a smile here)

Would I be correct in thinking that you might say, "Don't trespass against me so I don't have to forgive you ....make that since I won't forgive you". ???
Love it!