# Revolving Doors Give Spin to Explanation **URL:** \ **Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\ **Created:** [January 22, 2007, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/revolving-doors-give-spin-to-explanation/388973 "2007-01-22T17:27:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2007, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/revolving-doors-give-spin-to-explanation/388973/1 "2007-01-22T17:27:11Z")
Hey, Cece. In your column, [What’s the purpose of revolving doors?](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a3_288b.html), you say: > [@](#): > > So much for the rationalizations. The real reason you’re told to use the revolving doors is so the real estate operators of the world can test your willingness to play ball. Do you follow directions and use the revolving door, or are you one of those independent types who insist on doing their own thing and entering through the swinging version? If the latter, be forewarned: when Donald Trump takes over, you’re history. WTF? What could this possibly mean? How do the “real estate operators” know what doors you’ve been through and what do they do with that information afterward? Either this is the world’s worst attempt at a joke or you were hitting some thirty-year-old hash when you wrote this. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2007, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/revolving-doors-give-spin-to-explanation/388973/2 "2007-01-22T17:39:30Z")
[QUOTE=Exapno Mapcase] Either this is the world’s worst attempt at a joke or you were hitting some thirty-year-old hash when you wrote this. [/QUOTE] C’mon, E.M., you know it’s the former. It’s not half as bad a joke as you might typically hear on, say, NPR’s “Whad’ya Know?”, which isn’t saying much. ---
**Author:** ![Rube\_E.Tewesday](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f0a364/32.png) [@Rube\_E.Tewesday](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rube_E.Tewesday)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2007, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/revolving-doors-give-spin-to-explanation/388973/3 "2007-01-22T17:46:11Z")
FWIW, I thought it was a pretty good joke. Of course, I got the joke about contating Paul McCartney, Jerry Mather and Bob Denver through a seance, too. ---
**Author:** ![According\_to\_Pliny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8e7dd6/32.png) [@According\_to\_Pliny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/According_to_Pliny)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2007, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/revolving-doors-give-spin-to-explanation/388973/4 "2007-01-22T17:57:33Z")
Nowadays, all revolving doors have regular doors next to them. Either with or without a vestibule. So they have only one purpose today, nostalgia. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2007, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/revolving-doors-give-spin-to-explanation/388973/5 "2007-01-22T18:02:53Z")
[QUOTE=According to Pliny] Nowadays, all revolving doors have regular doors next to them. Either with or without a vestibule. So they have only one purpose today, nostalgia. [/QUOTE] That was also the point of Cecil’s column. If a building only had revolving doors you’d have no choice in how you entered. ---
**Author:** ![CurtC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ce73a5/32.png) [@CurtC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CurtC)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2007, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/revolving-doors-give-spin-to-explanation/388973/6 "2007-01-22T18:18:55Z")
But if it had only revolving doors, people in wheelchairs, or people bringing in items on a cart/dolly, couldn’t get in. My building has revolving doors, right next to automatically-opening sliding doors, and no vestibule. Most everyone takes the sliding doors, which let the building’s cooled or heated air out. So I usually take the revolving doors to be a good citizen. The only trouble is, the direction to the parking lot takes you right in front of the automatic doors, so I have to walk _way_ around to keep from triggering them to open, defeating the purpose. I’m probably the only person in our building who actually does this. I’m also the only one to use the stairs (I’m on the 10th floor). ---
**Author:** ![JValentine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/48db29/32.png) [@JValentine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JValentine)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2007, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/revolving-doors-give-spin-to-explanation/388973/7 "2007-01-22T18:44:08Z")
My building has a normal door next to the revolver; it seems about 50/50 as to which door people use. The normal doors have a sign that says “please use revolving door”, which a lot of people ignore. ---
**Author:** ![Threadkiller](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/aca169/32.png) [@Threadkiller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Threadkiller)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2007, 12:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/revolving-doors-give-spin-to-explanation/388973/8 "2007-01-23T12:39:29Z")
[QUOTE=According to Pliny] Nowadays, all revolving doors have regular doors next to them. Either with or without a vestibule. So they have only one purpose today, nostalgia. [/QUOTE] No, they have the purpose Cecil mentioned, keeping excessive air from moving from the outside inside and vise versa. Buildings are required by law to have ‘regular’ doors next to the revolving doors to allow a mass exit during emergencys. For an example why see this [Wiki Article](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cocoanut_Grove_fire). > [@](#): > > …As is common in panic situations, many patrons attempted to exit through the main entrance, the same way they had come in. However, the building’s main entrance was a single revolving door, immediately rendered useless as the panicked crowd scrambled for safety. Bodies piled up behind both sides of the revolving door, jamming it to the extent that firefighters had to dismantle it in order to get inside… Or try a google search on [revolving door tragedy](http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=revolving+door+tragedy&btnG=Google+Search) ---
**Author:** ![DSYoungEsq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c6cbf5/32.png) [@DSYoungEsq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSYoungEsq)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2007, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/revolving-doors-give-spin-to-explanation/388973/9 "2007-01-23T17:07:37Z")
[QUOTE=Threadkiller] No, they have the purpose Cecil mentioned, keeping excessive air from moving from the outside inside and vise versa. Buildings are required by law to have ‘regular’ doors next to the revolving doors to allow a mass exit during emergencys. For an example why see this [Wiki Article](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cocoanut_Grove_fire). Or try a google search on [revolving door tragedy](http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=revolving+door+tragedy&btnG=Google+Search) [/QUOTE] No, because you wouldn’t have to let the doors go both ways, then, you’d just have open out doors instead. ---
**Author:** ![JValentine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/48db29/32.png) [@JValentine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JValentine)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2007, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/revolving-doors-give-spin-to-explanation/388973/10 "2007-01-23T19:41:41Z")
[QUOTE=DSYoungEsq] No, because you wouldn’t have to let the doors go both ways, then, you’d just have open out doors instead. [/QUOTE] Could you clarify what you mean? Wind generally doesn’t read the sign that says “in” or “out”. We’re not talking about the doors blowing open of their own accord, but the gusts that are produced by people opening the doors to pass through them. ---
**Author:** ![JValentine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/48db29/32.png) [@JValentine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JValentine)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2007, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/revolving-doors-give-spin-to-explanation/388973/11 "2007-01-23T19:44:15Z")
Oh, or are you saying you could just include exit-doors for fire reasons and not allow entry except through the revolver? You still need normal doors sometimes – as previously mentioned, wheelchair access and package delivery are big ones. The point is that those should be rare relative to the number of people who could easily use the revolving door. ---
**Author:** ![Khangol](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecae2f/32.png) [@Khangol](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khangol)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2007, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/revolving-doors-give-spin-to-explanation/388973/12 "2007-01-23T20:31:54Z")
[QUOTE=CurtC] I usually take the revolving doors to be a good citizen. [/QUOTE] I usually enter through the hymen to be a good citizen. Oh, sorry, I guess I conflated two independent threads. How embarrassing. . . . ---
**Author:** ![That\_creates\_more\_Q\_s\_than\_A\_s](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/54ee81/32.png) [@That\_creates\_more\_Q\_s\_than\_A\_s](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/That_creates_more_Q_s_than_A_s)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2007, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/revolving-doors-give-spin-to-explanation/388973/13 "2007-01-23T23:33:00Z")
If you are embarassed by conflated threads, you should shop at better stores, ones with their own tailors. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2007, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/revolving-doors-give-spin-to-explanation/388973/14 "2007-02-07T01:57:20Z")
[QUOTE=Exapno Mapcase] WTF? What could this possibly mean? How do the “real estate operators” know what doors you’ve been through and what do they do with that information afterward? [/QUOTE] I’m puzzled by it too. Best I can think is that he means that if they are able to sell you a property with revolving doors they know that you’re a mug. If that’s what he meant, he should have said “architect” instead.