The lobby of the building hosting my club is configured in such a manner that the elevator doors are within about 5 meters of the front doors. The challenge this presents is that if I do the polite thing and let a woman exit the elevator before me, then I am unable to hold the door for her as she exits the building. Alternatively I could rush out the elevator and hold the door, but that seems a bit contrived. The appropriate action would be for the woman to step aside at the front door and let me open and hold it. This has not happened. I’m not particularly troubled by it however.
As a child in school, we were instructed on how to behave. Specifically I recall the instructions of always giving up your seat on the bus especially when wearing your school uniform. It stuck me as odd that such character should be contained by what one was wearing. For the most part I still am quite willing to stand on public transit although as I get older and the other commuters get younger I am more willing to take a seat.
It turns out, according to Reader’s Digest, that Torontonians are pretty polite; number 3 out of 36 cities world wide. Given the stature of Reader’s Digest in conducting such research, I’m sure we’ll be able to take these results in stride.
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