The trouble with doors

While my counter-part appreciates their efforts, I find their antics sometimes complicate the simple matter of passing through a door.

On my way to class today I was trying to leave a building just as someone else was trying to come in. He opened the door, but neither of us could pass because we stood on either side of the threshold. I would have preferred to simply step aside, let him through, and then operate the door myself for my exit, but it would not be. He gripped the door up higher and stepped aside so that I had to pass underneath his outstretched arm. I'm short, but not that short, so I still had to duck down. It was awkward. I do not like awkwardness.

Moments later, another fellow and I sought to enter a building at the same time. Again, the number of options complicated the simple task. I could wait expectantly for him to open the door and let me pass, open the door myself and let him go through first, or do what I did and open the door myself and go through, then kind of toss it back so it remained open for him to pass through. I felt rude for not allowing him to go first, but it would have been a role-reversal if he had gone first and just as awkward. Still, I was embarrassed by the escapade so I hurried away as quickly as I could. Just inside the doors was a flight of stairs. I scurried up them a bit too quickly for someone wearing nylons, so of course, my shoe slipped off.

I had succeeded in making a perfectly ordinary situation awkward and then even more so. I kept my head down, retrieved my shoe, and decided in the future I would try to strategically time my arrival at doors so there is no competition for passage.