Sliding doors

[ladyofastolat]

Today's entirely-unimportant-in-the-scheme-of-things rant subject is automatic doors. More specifically, it's lazy automatic doors that perform their duty but slowly and too late. So there you are, brisk shopper, striding purposefully towards the door. (I always stride purposefully, even if my brain hasn't yet clarified what the purpose actually is

Comments

[wellinghall]

"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from a completely ad-hoc plot device"
- David Langford, "A Gadget Too Far"

[learnsslowly]

I love that.

[wellinghall]

Mm, me too :-)

[puddleshark]

The sliding door at work is of the slow persuasion - I often end up jumping up and down in front of it, waiting for it to acknowledge my presence... I shall have to try the gesturing/magic word thing.

[beckyc]

Yup clearly you've got to do the hand thing all the time. Might be tricky with bags though

I only walk around 3-3.5 mph so I do not get strangers or doors telling me off, but I do get people I know asking me why I'm in a hurry (which is clearly silly because that's not that fast). I conclude that people are confusing, and walking at a comfortable pace is good.

[learnsslowly]

I get the told off for walking too fast thing too. It used to happen more when I was younger. (And more often from older people.) The offence seemed to be that they didn't want to SEE someone walking faster than they wished them to. Of course now there are fewer people older than me than there were 30 years ago ...

[ladyofastolat]

I really don't understand why I get this so much. Often it seems to be a case of people having strong opinions about how a leisure activity should be done, and feeling the need to berate others for Doing It Wrong. I've been berated for walking too fast to appreciate the scenery (I actually appreciate it a lot) or for failing to pay due attention to the wild flowers (I was noticing them quite happily.) People go on walks for a variety of reasons, but some people can only accept their own reasons as valid ones.

[leesa_perrie]

Then there's the ones that don't open unless you press the button (sometimes the button is on the wall a couple of feet before the door, just to confuse you further - well, there's at least one I can think of like that)!! I get the reason for them (so they're not opening everytime a person passes the store), but that doesn't mean I haven't been caught out by them!

Though interesting fact: if one of these doors is open and there's one or more ordinary you have to push/pull them doors next to them (like entering a shopping centre, for example), you can pretty much guarantee there are people waiting to use the open door, even though there's several someone's coming through it in the opposite direction! Often I've used the manual door and been out/inside before them!! :D

[king_pellinor]

I find a similar thing with double doors. A great crowd of people are trying to get through the open leaf, and you walk up, push the other one open, and get out straight away - leading a crowd of eager followers who hadn't realised what the word "Push" meant... :-)

[leesa_perrie]

Oh yes, double doors have the same effect! Still, it's one way to get followers, lol! :D

[ladyofastolat]

Getting out of primary schools can be sometimes feel more like breaking out a prison. They all have those "press button to open" doors, but they generally put the button somewhere high up, out of the children's reach, or miles away from the door - presumably so they can pounce on escapees before they reach the great outdoors. They're often near a very similar-looking emergency-override buttons, which must never be pressed except in case of fire. I tend to just stand there looking plaintive until someone (often a passing 7 year old) tells me how to escape.