Door Holding Etiquette

March 26, 2009 – 8:10 pm

I’m just curious how other people handle this situation.

Your mother taught you that it’s polite to hold the door for someone walking behind you, right?

But what’s the cutoff distance? At what length of separation do you pretend that you don’t notice the person walking behind you? 25 feet? Does that sound right?

I know it’s the polite thing to do if someone is walking close behind you, but it’s always a little bit awkward when there’s a significant amount of separation. The person will start walking faster or even jog to catch up so that you don’t have to hold the door too long. I know when someone holds a door for me, and I still have some distance to cover, I certainly pick up the pace as I think to myself “gahhh, appreciated, but you should have just ignored me.”

Obviously if someone has a physical impairment then there’s no awkwardness involved for any distance, but for all other situations I think there should be a universally accepted cutoff distance.

25 feet.

So I’ll just put this out there now: If you’re more 25 feet behind me as I’m entering a building, I’m sorry. It’s nothing against you. You’re just beyond the unofficial official cutoff distance.

Maybe I overthink things. Or maybe I’m just a jerk.