But why did you only unlock one of them in the first place?
GOD I hate this! Every morning at 7-11. There are TWO doors people!!!
It certainly helps with pedestrian traffic flow if, when approaching a two-door set, you choose the one on your right. That way, folks going in and folks going out don’t step into each other or have to play that little dance where you wait for the person to make his move and then you step back for them to pass and then you proceed. Two working doors allows for efficient traffic flow.
Locking one of those doors and not indicating such is non-intuitive and totally gums up the works. I hate striding confidently toward a glass door, expecting to have it open with a push and let me keep on going, but instead, WHAM!, immovable object.
Two open doors plays havoc with the Central Heat and AC.
It’s especially miserable for the employees that work in the front of the store. A blast of cold, freezing air isn’t much fun when you’re in a short sleeve dress shirt.
We unlocked one door. The other one had a sign saying it was locked.
Ideally, its better to have two sets of doors with a vestibule. Like malls. So that freezing blast of air can’t blow in. Then! You can keep both doors unlocked.
But, that’s not found in most strip mall store fronts.
Has the procedure changed to unlock a door with a push bar?
We had a hex key in a drawer, behind the counter. The hole was on the underside (of the push bar) and it took several turns for the push bar to drop down. Then the public could enter.
I worked the evening shift and used the hex key to lock the door many nights. That’s been three decades ago.
Has it changed in newer buildings?
Have you not been in a store in 30 years? Pay attention the next time, the only places I’ve seen the doors like you describe have been on schools and government buildings, not on stores. They usually only have a push handle on the inside and a pull handle on the outside. One side usually locks/unlocks with a regular key and the other door locks/unlocks with ‘catches’ on the top and bottom that go into the door frame.
I worked at the University bookstore. We sold drinks, snacks and microwave dinners & sandwiches. Always very busy in the evening.
We had doors with push bars. It’s a fire code requirement. Nobody, ever gets locked inside a building.
The “side” door that I used yesterday wouldn’t let me in, but it would let me out. I’m guessing that’s the way most of them are.
No idea why they don’t want it used as an entrance, but I’ve also seen fast food side doors with alarms on them. Those can’t be used either way unless it’s an emergency.
For the handle situation: that way you have versatility. The business who gets the building can decide to use it as an open door or as a usually closed door. They may even have started out using it one way but changed it. The only time I see doors without handles are businesses like Walmart or a restaurant where the building was specifically built for them.
As for signage: am I wrong, or isn’t it usually the right door that works? And isn’t that the one you’d most likely try first, due to how we drive and walk on the right? There may not be enough people who try the left door to bother, especially since it apparently onlynregisters as a mild annoyance that doesn’t keep you from coming back.
Yes, the door on the right unlocks.
The door on the left has latches at the top & bottom.
I never bother trying the other door. I expect it to be locked unless I see people using it.
I’m always amazed that so many businesses guarantee the very first thing half of their potential customers experience is rejection.
I believe the bigger issue isn’t so much employees forgetting to unlock the doors, as much as it is a matter of closing employees locking that door when they leave. While they may lock the “door lock,” if the 2nd door isn’t pinned locked at the top/bottom, then the door can be opened in many cases (if the lock bolt is too short) by simply pulling the two doors open. The locking point on the inside edges of the door simply separates and the bolt slips out… or at least opens enough to encourage someone to try harder at opening it, or setting off an alarm.
It’s easier to tell folks to keep that door shut than it is to respond to a call from the security company at 3 AM to go throw that latch at your store, 30 minutes from your home.
I was in NYC last weekend and was going out of the Eataly doors on 5th. For some reason, everyone was going in and out of the LEFT hand side. So I opened the right hand side, just as someone else was opening the right hand side to go IN. I must have rolled my eyes and I looked at the guy coming in and he looked at me and he rolled *his *eyes and said, “I know.”
For what it’s worth, I noticed on Friday that the business that inspired this thread now has a sign on the locked door saying to use the other door. It has been nearly three years since I’ve started going to that location.
What perplexes me even more than the “one locked door” scenario are the businesses that have two doors, and the one unlocked door has a push button with a handicapped symbol on it.
Am I supposed to push the button if I’m not handicapped? If I just push on the door to open it, am I damaging the door-opening mechanism? There’s some resistance and a weird groaning sound—am I stripping the gears or something? And WHY ISN’T THE OTHER DAMN DOOR UNLOCKED? :mad: