This is something that I have been thinking about for quite a while now. In New York, there are a lot of revolving doors. I tend to not use them. I don’t use them because revolving doors are usually just large enough to cut my stride in half, meaning that I generally hit the door in front of me or behind me with my feet. It is annoying, and most people in New York have no patience for the door stopping while I avoid falling.

So, most places have an option for a regular door, and on that regular door it says “Please use revolving door.” Bah humbug to you, and your tiny revolving doors! I mean, the writing on the door isn’t like the “Please stay off grass” signs, where me entering a different door will affect much. They lose a bit more of the cool air from the building, but I am under the impression that revolving doors are more about controlling traffic than anything else.

So here is my issue with going through the door. I have always been taught that it is polite to hold the door if someone is near behind you. I don’t distinctly remember being taught this, but I feel bad if I don’t hold the door for the next person. It seems that 90% of New Yorkers got part of that lesson.

They got the part where you are supposed to ACT like you are holding the door for someone else. These are the people I refer to as the Tappers. They are the people that after holding the door open long enough for themselves, they tap the door, pretending to hold the door open, before running off in the direction of their destination. Now, here is my frustration from it. It tricks me every time. I see the person going through the door, then they tap it, so I end up speeding up only to be dissapointed when it is a tap instead of a hold.

Now, I am assuming that most people are not using the regular door instead of the revolving door for the same reason as me. I think it MAY be faster to go through the regular door. And the people who tend to go through it are busybodies who are always late no matter how early they are. In that case, holding the door is out of the question for them, but they have to act like it still. Why do they have to act like it? Why not just pull the door closed after themselves? I rarely ever see the same person twice in the Big Apple, so who are they trying to impress by not holding the door, yet still acting like it?

These are the things that prove difficult for even us, as humans, to explain. I wonder, if there were artificial intelligence, would they be able to authentically interact with the sporadic intricacies such as these? Wow, good job on the tangent Aaron.