2005.05.13 The Revolving Door
At the building where I work there is a revolving door. It's flanked by two normal push doors. Those doors do not have handles on the outside. If you want to enter one of the side doors, the security guard on the inside has to push a little button to open the door. A little known feature is that there is also a button on the outside that can open one of those doors. This button works only during business hours.
It takes about 5 seconds to go through the revolving door, and only one person can go through at a time. For the most part, you have to go through the revolving door to enter the building. The security guard is often nice enough in the morning to keep pushing the button to open one of the side doors.
To leave the building, however, is different. During business hours you can always just go out one of those side doors. Nobody has to push any buttons, all you have to do is push the door, as if it were any other door. It's very simple.
I don't understand why people choose to go out by way of the revolving door. There is a door that is faster, wider, and a bit more accessible immediately to either side of that revolving door.
Here are some possible reasons for why they choose the revolving door:
- Small Spaces Give them Warm Fuzzies
- The paced speed of the revolving door is the only regular thing in their lives
- Convenience and Speed are low priority to them
- They're too dumb to realize they don't have to go through it
The other day I witnessed a wonderfully dumb person work with the doors. The UPS man had stopped by and was standing in the lobby and was going to leave. While obviously in a hurry, he pushed on one of the side doors, but pushed on the non-swivel side of that door. Thinking that the door was not able to be opened, he and his box went through the revolving door in little baby steps, trying to fit him and his box in there at the same time.
I'm glad that others like the revolving door so much, but I'll opt for the normal ones.