# There are two doors for a reason. Don't use the left door **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [February 10, 2011, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/there-are-two-doors-for-a-reason-dont-use-the-left-door/570933 "2011-02-10T19:39:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![PSXer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/48db29/32.png) [@PSXer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PSXer)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2011, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/there-are-two-doors-for-a-reason-dont-use-the-left-door/570933/1 "2011-02-10T19:39:20Z")
Everytime I am trying to get into the building to go to class, there is a line of people filing out the (my left, their right) door. They are doing it right. But then a few people think they can beat the system by going out the (their left, my right) door. That is not fair to me, because then I can not go in the my right door. Just be patient and quit trying to save 10 seconds, because you’re ruining it for everyone else. tl;dr use the door on your right ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2011, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/there-are-two-doors-for-a-reason-dont-use-the-left-door/570933/2 "2011-02-10T19:41:49Z")
I agree in a two-way situation. But if there is no oncoming traffic, slow traffic to the right, passing to the left. ---
**Author:** ![PSXer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/48db29/32.png) [@PSXer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PSXer)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2011, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/there-are-two-doors-for-a-reason-dont-use-the-left-door/570933/3 "2011-02-10T19:46:12Z")
also just to clarify there are probably 3-4 feet of space between the doors. they aren’t connected ---
**Author:** ![PoorYorick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ecccb3/32.png) [@PoorYorick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PoorYorick)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2011, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/there-are-two-doors-for-a-reason-dont-use-the-left-door/570933/4 "2011-02-10T19:55:25Z")
It’s probably those damn Brits. ---
**Author:** ![Rumor\_Watkins](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d9b06d/32.png) [@Rumor\_Watkins](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rumor_Watkins)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2011, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/there-are-two-doors-for-a-reason-dont-use-the-left-door/570933/5 "2011-02-10T19:58:36Z")
you’re just rude expecting everyone to fall in line with what you deem to be the proper protocol when using doors. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![shiftless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9c0ed/32.png) [@shiftless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shiftless)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2011, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/there-are-two-doors-for-a-reason-dont-use-the-left-door/570933/6 "2011-02-10T20:00:28Z")
Yeah, I blame the British. ---
**Author:** ![Rumor\_Watkins](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d9b06d/32.png) [@Rumor\_Watkins](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rumor_Watkins)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2011, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/there-are-two-doors-for-a-reason-dont-use-the-left-door/570933/7 "2011-02-10T20:03:11Z")
> [@shiftless](#): > > Yeah, I blame the British. I’m pretty sure they stand on the right, pass on the left, at least on the Tube. Which is doubly fucked up for them. ---
**Author:** ![PSXer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/48db29/32.png) [@PSXer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PSXer)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2011, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/there-are-two-doors-for-a-reason-dont-use-the-left-door/570933/8 "2011-02-10T20:07:40Z")
Doesn’t matter which door, left or right, is in or out, as long as we have a followed convention, but how am I supposed to get inside when both doors are filled with people leaving? ---
**Author:** ![Rumor\_Watkins](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d9b06d/32.png) [@Rumor\_Watkins](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rumor_Watkins)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2011, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/there-are-two-doors-for-a-reason-dont-use-the-left-door/570933/9 "2011-02-10T20:12:56Z")
> [@PSXer](#): > > Doesn’t matter which door, left or right, is in or out, as long as we have a followed convention, but how am I supposed to get inside when both doors are filled with people leaving? you’re rude thinking that you have any place dictating your conventions to anyone else. they didn’t agree to your conventions. \*\* not like you would know, but I’m attempting to parody a poster’s position in one of my recent pit threads about the propriety of parking in someone else’s spot that they shoveled after 16 inches of show. I agree that social convention is a valid concept, and the people who are not using the “right” (pun intended) door are being douchebags ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2011, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/there-are-two-doors-for-a-reason-dont-use-the-left-door/570933/10 "2011-02-10T20:13:10Z")
> [@PSXer](#): > > Doesn’t matter which door, left or right, is in or out, as long as we have a followed convention, but how am I supposed to get inside when both doors are filled with people leaving? You could try not being a pussy. ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2011, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/there-are-two-doors-for-a-reason-dont-use-the-left-door/570933/11 "2011-02-10T20:18:03Z")
On a similar note: Business owners, there are two doors for a reason. Don’t lock one of them just for the hell of it. There’s not a “door tax.” You won’t increase the pressure of your revenue stream by constricting the point of entry. Your establishment is not filled with invisible magic get-rich-quick gas that escapes rapidly when more doors are opened. You might think it will discourage stampeding pachyderms, but they can be very persistent, especially on Black Friday. And if you have two sets of entry doors, and lock the right door of the first set and the left door of the second set\*, you’re just a complete asshole. - Which was the case in a store I patronized recently. ---
**Author:** ![Giraffe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giraffe/32/129_2.png) [@Giraffe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giraffe)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2011, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/there-are-two-doors-for-a-reason-dont-use-the-left-door/570933/12 "2011-02-10T20:35:24Z")
> [@Smeghead](#): > > You could try not being a pussy. I think **PSXer** should set realistic goals. ---
**Author:** ![PSXer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/48db29/32.png) [@PSXer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PSXer)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2011, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/there-are-two-doors-for-a-reason-dont-use-the-left-door/570933/13 "2011-02-10T20:38:36Z")
that’s cold, Jay ---
**Author:** ![teela\_brown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d9b06d/32.png) [@teela\_brown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teela_brown)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2011, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/there-are-two-doors-for-a-reason-dont-use-the-left-door/570933/14 "2011-02-10T20:39:59Z")
The people who ignore door conventions are probably the same ones I see on dedicated two lane bike paths riding their bicycles the wrong way. ---
**Author:** ![Giraffe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giraffe/32/129_2.png) [@Giraffe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giraffe)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2011, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/there-are-two-doors-for-a-reason-dont-use-the-left-door/570933/15 "2011-02-10T20:50:28Z")
> [@PSXer](#): > > that’s cold, Jay Stay in character, **PSXer**. Remember: you’re shy, socially-clueless, and afraid of confrontation. Your hobbies include using outdated technology, pretending not to understand getting dissed by your friends and all women, and pretending to do crazy things like tipping movie ticket takers and paying for laserdiscs. A better response would have been something like “i have ocd so if i bump into people i have to go home and wash my hands” or “i just think they should have a cop there to enforce door rules”. How about taking a little pride in your work, for Pete’s sake? ---
**Author:** ![PSXer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/48db29/32.png) [@PSXer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PSXer)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2011, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/there-are-two-doors-for-a-reason-dont-use-the-left-door/570933/16 "2011-02-10T21:01:34Z")
I bump into people sometimes. It is unavoidable in the crowded hallways. But I don’t go wash my hands immediately; that would just be silly. And we don’t need The Man there arresting people for going through the wrong door, just a little common courtesy. ---
**Author:** ![Wile\_E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c37758/32.png) [@Wile\_E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wile_E)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2011, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/there-are-two-doors-for-a-reason-dont-use-the-left-door/570933/17 "2011-02-10T21:38:14Z")
> [@PoorYorick](#): > > It’s probably those damn Brits. It can’t be, the British don’t line up, they queue. They’ve gotta be all fancy and shit about it. ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Ashtar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ea924/32.png) [@Lord\_Ashtar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Ashtar)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2011, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/there-are-two-doors-for-a-reason-dont-use-the-left-door/570933/18 "2011-02-10T21:51:16Z")
> [@Giraffe](#): > > Stay in character, **PSXer**. Remember: you’re shy, socially-clueless, and afraid of confrontation. Your hobbies include using outdated technology, pretending not to understand getting dissed by your friends and all women, and pretending to do crazy things like tipping movie ticket takers and paying for laserdiscs. > > A better response would have been something like “i have ocd so if i bump into people i have to go home and wash my hands” or “i just think they should have a cop there to enforce door rules”. > > How about taking a little pride in your work, for Pete’s sake? So we’re tutoring the trolls now? ---
**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2011, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/there-are-two-doors-for-a-reason-dont-use-the-left-door/570933/19 "2011-02-10T22:16:29Z")
> [@PSXer](#): > > tl;dr use the door on your right What do you think of people who walk on the left side of the hallway A, and then take a left into adjoining hallway B, so that people who are walking on the right side of hallway B are suddenly and unexpectedly confronted with a person coming around the corner at a rapid pace? My friend wants to know. ---
**Author:** ![PSXer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/48db29/32.png) [@PSXer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PSXer)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2011, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/there-are-two-doors-for-a-reason-dont-use-the-left-door/570933/20 "2011-02-10T22:21:42Z")
It is not usually a big problem. I have run into someone coming around a corner rapidly (or been that person coming around rapidly) but it has only been a couple times ever and I don’t worry about it too much. I say that you should always walk on the right, but even I break my own rule sometimes and walk on the left when I feel like it. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/there-are-two-doors-for-a-reason-dont-use-the-left-door/570933.md?page=2)