Epistaxis

The main entrance to my building is locked; residents have to swipe their cards to get in. Next to the card reader is one of those giant metal buttons with a blue outine of a wheelchair on it - you know the kind; they cause an electric motor to open the door (slowly) and hold it open long enough for someone less sprightly than me to get through.

Well, I've seen a significant number of people who aren't in wheelchairs use the automatic opener when they enter. In some situations it's understandable: if you're carrying grocery bags or pushing a big blue cart, that makes it a lot easier for you to get in. But I've seen people with two free hands - not even a cell phone! - push the button, so that's not it.

Maybe they're just in a hurry, and don't have time for manual labor. But the door opener is so slow. Many press the button, then open the door partway with their own hands rather than wait for it. So that's not it either.

Maybe it's a less personally invested way of holding the door open for the people behind you. I've noticed here, and in the dorm I used to live in, that wherever there's a security door with a card swiper for residents only, people really love to hold it open for strangers. The one at my old dorm was a few paces from the bottom of a stairway. Not only did people hold the door open, but the recipients of this dubious courtesy tended (were expected?) to make a show of hurrying to the door to decrease the inconvenience to the generous party. I remember someone at the door once saw me coming all the way at the top of the stairs; he stayed there, and started holding open the door and smiling at me. Well, there were a lot of stairs, and they were slippery from ice, (and I instinctively mistrust people who smile at me,) so I descended with exactly the same ponderous speed I would have used if no one had been around. It took a little while, and by the time I reached bottom the guy was making an exasperated face, as if to say "I'm not a thoughtful gentleman consciously going out of my way to be polite; this is just what everyone is supposed to do without thinking about it, and you're not playing ball." By the time I got anywhere near the door, of course, I already had my card visible in my hand and could have gotten in just as easily without his help. I convinced myself I was trying to start a trend that would lead to fewer stroll-in robberies, rather than just being a smartass.

So it's not courtesy either. I suppose I also could have figured that from the number of people I've seen who push the wheelchair button with no one behind them; they usually don't look back anyway. The fact that they're letting the heat out and the surprisingly brazen burglars in also suggests they're not doing it for the benefit of their fellow resident.

I'm at a loss. If anyone knows the great secret of why unhandicapped people ought to use the automatic door openers, please let me know. I love to do disingenuous-appearing things for good but nonobvious reasons.