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Excuse me
11 years ago
Does anyone else have people mumble "Excuse me," when passing by within so much as five meters of you?
It happens to me a lot. Like, in a grocery store, I'm usually pretty observant. If I'm at all indecisive about what I want and see someone walking up, I immediately plaster my back to one of the aisles and freeze so as to provide as much walking space as possible.
Even in such a case, I still hear an "Excuse me" roughly 50% of the time as they walk by. It's like a game I can't win, because the game is entirely luck-based.
I also get a mumbled "Thank you," for doing nothing particularly special, such as opening a door and walking through the doorway without any specific intent to hold the door open (I will hold it as wide as possible and for as long as I can, yes, but I find prolonged door-holding to be rather silly except for relatives or someone obviously disabled/elderly). Ever see that episode of Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends where Wilt was holding a door open for the entire episode because he was too polite to let it close on someone?
Personally, I kind of expect every door to slam into my face, and always, 100% of the time, reach my hand out as far as possible to account for said expectation.
I also expect every door that opens inward to suddenly swing open at any moment and break my nose. Thus -- by pure ingrained habit -- I always lean forward and stretch my arm to open them rather than stand closer. A few mild swats to the hand are incomparable to getting door checked.
It happens to me a lot. Like, in a grocery store, I'm usually pretty observant. If I'm at all indecisive about what I want and see someone walking up, I immediately plaster my back to one of the aisles and freeze so as to provide as much walking space as possible.
Even in such a case, I still hear an "Excuse me" roughly 50% of the time as they walk by. It's like a game I can't win, because the game is entirely luck-based.
I also get a mumbled "Thank you," for doing nothing particularly special, such as opening a door and walking through the doorway without any specific intent to hold the door open (I will hold it as wide as possible and for as long as I can, yes, but I find prolonged door-holding to be rather silly except for relatives or someone obviously disabled/elderly). Ever see that episode of Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends where Wilt was holding a door open for the entire episode because he was too polite to let it close on someone?
Personally, I kind of expect every door to slam into my face, and always, 100% of the time, reach my hand out as far as possible to account for said expectation.
I also expect every door that opens inward to suddenly swing open at any moment and break my nose. Thus -- by pure ingrained habit -- I always lean forward and stretch my arm to open them rather than stand closer. A few mild swats to the hand are incomparable to getting door checked.
I do the same things as you with doors, it's not like... my intention to be the doorman, it's a bit different to stand beside the door and hold it open, while what I do is just push it open all wide, or hold it open for a few seconds with my back to the other person. A thanks is really what I'm not expecting to hear, but that's what I almost always get.
All in all, I myself prefer people to be courteous like this, even though sometimes it tends to be an annoyance. It'll be a sad day when all this is lost and people will just scorn and push each other around, well... perhaps an exaggeration, but I myself am not terribly bothered by overtly polite acts!
[Begin Rant]
It's just, I'm not looking for people to push each other around or be horribly impolite. But, sometimes, I'm walking behind someone through a doorway, and they do not even attempt to hold the door for me. Am I filled with rage at their thoughtlessness? No, because they probably didn't even realize I was behind them, and I have already reached my arm out to catch the door. Sometimes I reach my arm out and catch a whole lot of nothing, because they do hold the door for an unusually long amount of time, even though they don't have to. Does that fill me with gratitude? Not so much. It's a door. Be self-sufficient. (Again, exceptions for family members and those obviously less able-bodied.)
And for someone walking past in a relatively narrow aisle, I actually consider it mildly discourteous to not see that I have clearly gotten out of the way. Mildly. I know there's a desire to not have an accidental collision, but come on.
I'm also annoyed by people who sneeze almost inaudibly and then practically shout "Excuse me!" The voluntary afterward remark is louder than the involuntary sneeze.
[End Rant]
Anyway... just ignore me. I'm being all nonconformist again, as usual.
Yes, yes, that all I agree to.
Now that I agree with too, I sort of failed with reading comprehension about that part... I find it annoying as well that when I get out of the way, the other person has to as well, and instead of keeping quiet and walking past, or saying a word of thanks, they go on about excusing me and so forth.
Now that's something I haven't seen happen, usually people here just say "Bless you" or "For health" when someone sneezes.
Nah, not too badly or anything, and I just can't ignore, heh.