# Build two doors. Lock one and never use it? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 11, 2000, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/build-two-doors-lock-one-and-never-use-it/32722 "2000-09-11T01:43:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2000, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/build-two-doors-lock-one-and-never-use-it/32722/1 "2000-09-11T01:43:02Z")
Why is one side of a pair of doors so often locked? Often this is not apparent and I come up to a door, expecting to open it, only to hit an immovable obstacle. Especially annoying is that there seems to be no way to predict _which side_ is locked. Seems to me that, if you’re going to all the trouble of putting in two doors, you might as well let us _use_ two doors… ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2000, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/build-two-doors-lock-one-and-never-use-it/32722/2 "2000-09-11T01:51:07Z")
Reason for two doors: Oversized deliveries and other occassions when a single witdh door won’t do. Reason to lock on 99% of the time: Save on heating/AC costs. Half the doors being open means only half the air is exiting the building. I will admit it’s annoying when the doors aren’t labeled though. ---
**Author:** ![cornflakes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9d8465/32.png) [@cornflakes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cornflakes)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2000, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/build-two-doors-lock-one-and-never-use-it/32722/3 "2000-09-11T02:09:52Z")
Just think of it as the first question of your interview. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![bizerta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3be4f8/32.png) [@bizerta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bizerta)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2000, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/build-two-doors-lock-one-and-never-use-it/32722/4 "2000-09-11T02:15:47Z")
Usually, the key goes in only one of the doors. After the one door is unlocked, the other door has levers that are only accessible from the edge. So always go for the door with the locking mechanism. Why only one door, the employees are too lazy to take the time to open the second door. After all, they know which door is unlocked when they unlock it. From a fire safety point of view, both doors should be unlocked. Then again a minimum-wage clerk is usually not bright enough to think about customers’ safety. ---
**Author:** ![Booker57](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Booker57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Booker57)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2000, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/build-two-doors-lock-one-and-never-use-it/32722/5 "2000-09-11T02:24:03Z")
I think about safty, just dont care. Look for the keyhole. Pull. ---
**Author:** ![Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/96bed5/32.png) [@Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patty_O_Furniture)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2000, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/build-two-doors-lock-one-and-never-use-it/32722/6 "2000-09-11T02:39:46Z")
> [@](#): > > From a fire safety point of view, both doors should be unlocked. I agree with this, and I know there are many jurisdictions where it is against the fire code to lock an exit so that you can’t open it from the inside. I have mentioned this to a few merchants when I have found myself in a little bit of a hurry and almost smashed my face into the locked side. Of course I always think that I’m just pushing when I should have pulled (or vice-versa) and then I waste a few _more_ seconds **pulling** on the same door. Finally I realize that they have the door locked, and I turn to the nearest on-looking employee, put on my nastiest attitude and say “I guess it’s a good thing there wasn’t a fire behind me”. > [@](#): > > Save[s] on heating/AC costs. This is a load of Oscar Meyer Bologna. Tell _X_ number of people to exit through a single door, and that door will stay open **twice as long** as a double door would passing the same number of people. Why do you think they open both doors of a movie theater when the movie is over? To get people out in half the time (as compared to having only one door open). Moreover, as far as business go there is usually two-way traffic moving through the doors, and when one door is locked this results in a line of people waiting for the incoming traffic to clear before the outgoing traffic can exit, again keeping the single door open twice as long. ---
**Author:** ![Timothy\_Campbell](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/958977/32.png) [@Timothy\_Campbell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Timothy_Campbell)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2000, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/build-two-doors-lock-one-and-never-use-it/32722/7 "2000-09-11T04:34:50Z")
I’ve long wondered about just this perplexing problem! I’ve also arrived at the conclusion that the people who unlock one of the doors are too lazy to unlock the other one. After all, day after day they see people coming in and going out, so (they figure) why bother unlocking both? I guess they figure that a few bruised noses is worth the cost of saving a few seconds per day. ---
**Author:** ![muffinman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e8c25b/32.png) [@muffinman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muffinman)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2000, 4:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/build-two-doors-lock-one-and-never-use-it/32722/8 "2000-09-11T04:50:47Z")
I work at Publix… being the first supermarket to have automatic doors, they are still quite proud of this asset. The doors are ALWAYS unlocked during business hours. Basically, our store will do anything to keep customers happy, so they don’t lock any needed doors. They’ll ever turn off the Musak if one customer says it’s bothering him/her, and turn it back on after they leave. ---
**Author:** ![RM\_Mentock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e274bd/32.png) [@RM\_Mentock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RM_Mentock)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2000, 5:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/build-two-doors-lock-one-and-never-use-it/32722/9 "2000-09-11T05:41:10Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Timothy Campbell \* > \*\*I guess they figure that a few bruised noses is worth the cost of saving a few seconds per day. \*\* Plus, it’s worth a couple of laughs ---
**Author:** ![sdimbert](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sdimbert/32/20204_2.png) [@sdimbert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sdimbert)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2000, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/build-two-doors-lock-one-and-never-use-it/32722/10 "2000-09-11T14:05:16Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Booker57 \* > \*\*I think about safty, just dont care. Look for the keyhole. Pull. \*\* This is exactly why people keep voting _against_ raises in minimum wage. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Chef\_Troy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/85f322/32.png) [@Chef\_Troy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chef_Troy)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2000, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/build-two-doors-lock-one-and-never-use-it/32722/11 "2000-09-11T15:03:23Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Booker57 \* > \*\*I think about safty, just dont care. Look for the keyhole. Pull. \*\* And just WHAT are you pulling while you look through that keyhole? _smirk_ Or would “jerking” be a better word than “pulling”? ---
**Author:** ![Keeve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f07891/32.png) [@Keeve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Keeve)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2000, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/build-two-doors-lock-one-and-never-use-it/32722/12 "2000-09-11T17:58:29Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Booker57 \* > \*\*Look for the keyhole. Pull. \*\* This is such a simple solution!!! Thank you so very much!!! (personal to Troy: He said look **for** the keyhole, not **through** it! Doh!) ---
**Author:** ![ren](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ed655f/32.png) [@ren](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ren)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2000, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/build-two-doors-lock-one-and-never-use-it/32722/13 "2000-09-11T18:56:21Z")
More often than not, seems like it’s the right-side door that’s open. Drives me crazy 'cause I’m left-handed and instinctively go for the left-hand door first. Sigh… (And I always pull that “Midvale school for the gifted” number as well…)