The Extended Door Hold

I could go on and on about the different types of etiquette which our society has accepted as the norm. Everything from saying “bless you” when someone sneezes to shaking hands when you meet someone fascinates me. Today however I am going to talk about holding the door for people. More specifically I am going to take a look at a recurring problem in my life. This problem is the “Extended Door Hold.”

Most recently I experienced this while entering the gym on my school’s campus. I was walking towards the gym and I could sense that there was a person behind me. I was trying to gauge the distance between me and this person by looking at their reflection in the window of the gym I was about to enter. It appeared to me that they were about 10 feet away. Or in other words, the maximum distance that a natural door hold can take place.

Well unfortunately my reflection based estimate was far off from the actual distance. When I opened the door and began to hold the door I glanced back and realized this person was at least 25 feet away. At this moment I realized I had two options. The first option was that I could shut the door after I had already shown intent to hold the door for them and risk looking like a jerk. The second option was that I could awkwardly stand there and wait for this person to walk all the way to the doorway and in turn become a part of a record setting extended door hold.

An extended door hold is not good for anyone involved. The person holding the door feels like they are being excessively and unnecessarily nice in a strange way. The person walking towards the door feels an obligation to pick up their pace as to not make the door holder wait for them. Both participants in this situation do not enjoy the experience.

I figure it is important to let you know that I chose option two, the extended door hold. I stood there holding the door while this person performed a fake jog in an attempt to show some hustle. This jog was identical to the ones that some people will do when they are walking across a crosswalk and trying to show the driver of the waiting car that they are trying to hurry up. Anyways this person finally got to the doorway and I relinquished my hold at last. Unfortunately I misjudged the speed of the door closure and I performed what is known as a “halfway door hold.” This is when you are attempting to hold the door for someone and you end up letting go too soon causing the door to close on them, nullifying all the effort you put into holding the door for them in the first place.