When Push Comes To Pull

My entire life I have always had a problem with the “push – Pull” thing when it comes to doors. Often the direction simply doesn’t make sense to me or it could just be my awkward sense of direction.

In stores I am constantly pushing when I should be pulling and visa versa; yes, even when it is plainly marked on the door.  It seems to be what I have always been destined to do. It is a little more than embarrassing when I’m heaving up against a door to exit only to see the plain sign: “pull.” It is equally pathetic when I’m pulling on a door with all my might and then I look down and see that tiny sign that says “push.”

Returning to my original thesis, it often seems to me that the direction of the door opening just doesn’t jive with common sense. As an example, when there are items stacked right next to the door frame and the sign says pull to exit, I am always afraid of spilling some merchant’s wares on the ground. I’m sure somewhere there is a book or pamphlet that explains the Push – Pull etiquette. I just have never discovered these lost pages.

To make my door dyslexia even worse, I have lived in Italy for nearly two decades and I still don’t know how to open most doors. Yes, I know that spingere means push but somehow it often fails to register. I have similar issues with the direction of the door opening here. Why would one have to pull a door inward in a crowded small toilet stall to exit? You could wind up getting wet! Likewise, why would you push open a door leaving a building on a busy street with no sidewalk? You could get really hurt if you weren’t very careful.

When push comes to pull, I now just look for the sign and hope that the guy who put it there had a better sense of direction than I do. In the absence of such advice, I just tug the door gently and try to take my best shot – It’s a fifty-fifty proposition at best.

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Read author Allen E. Rizzi’s latest books available at Amazon.com