Universal Skills #1 - The Wrong-Way Door

Alright, gents, we all know that we're supposed to hold the door open for ladies. I'm sure by now you've had enough practice with this one that you've encountered the dilemma of the "wrong-way door:" the door that you don't pull open toward you, but that you have to push open away from you. The center of this problem is that, when you're opening the door, you're not supposed to go through it before the lady does, right?

In the standard pull-towards situation, you simply pull open the door toward yourself and hold it there until everyone you're holding it for has passed through. But what do you do when the door opens away from you?

Now, I've tried a few solutions to this issue and hit upon the only (as I see it) logical way to handle it.

The Wrong Way

Do not attempt to push the door open and keep your outstretched arm across it to hold it open. First off, this can be really difficult for shorter men (well, shorter than me which, at 6'5" is most of them); let's face it guys, some times you just can't reach out as far. No shame in understanding that. Second, you're in the damn way: as people try to get through the door, they invariably will have to work around you to get out of it. This almost defeats the purpose of holding the door open in the first place, so you might as well forget it. Third, this is at best a short-term solution. With your arm outstretched like it must be in this situation, you're putting a lot of strain on it -- who knows how long you'll have to hold that door, right? There could be any number of folks who need to come through. Blowing out your door-opening arm on a single wrong-way door is just opening yourself up for more problems later on. Just like a boy scout, you've got to be prepared.

So, no opening doors this way.

The Proper Procedure

The chief stumbling block for solving the wrong-way door is the door itself. In not wanting to cross through the door, you're making the door some inviolate object that you're not allowed to penetrate until the other people with you have. But really, it's not the door you're trying to show respect for, but the people you're holding the door for -- meaning that there's absolutely nothing wrong with walking through it before anyone else does.

1. Open the door.
2. Walk through. Gasp! I know! It seems so wrong, but really, you don't give a damn what the door thinks.
   
3. Immediately stop and hold the door open. It's best if you can swing yourself around with the door to keep yourself moving smoothly. Most doors are stopped in some way on one side by a wall. Get to this wall. Put your back up against it and hold the door open.
4. Hold the door open for everyone who's passing through. Whether they're with you or not. Sure, the folks who you're with may need to wait for you a minute, but you just earned chivalry points both in their eyes and in the eyes of everyone else who came through the door.