There's an interesting observation to be made when a man and a woman are rushing to go through a door from opposite sides, and then bump into each other unexpectedly. Do you ever feel that the woman pretends to get more of a fright than she actually does? For me, yes it's a completely unexpected thing, but I do not get a fright. I just deal with it as it's just something that happens every now and then. I hate it when the woman somehow acts as if it's the man's fault. If I came through the door holding a dagger, it'd be another thing!
I remember the first time this happened to me. I was coming out of a dark hallway and the girl who was coming from the kitchen arrived at the door before me. The door opened in (towards me). She got a huge fright. I later realised that because she reached the door just before me, that it might have seemed to her that I had been standing there in the dark all along. So when she was saying "jeez Virgin, wooooah" what she was really saying was "you're weird". It confused me though! If she flat out told me that she thought I was weird I could have just said "no, you just simply happened to reach the door just before me".
I've since come across similar situations, and I think I know how to handle them. Recently when I was coming down a stairs I could see a colleague coming up from below. She was looking down so I could tell that she wasn't yet aware of my presence. I said "don't be alarmed". She immediately looked up in fright and then just smiled. Now if played up that she got more of a fright than that as if to imply that it was my fault somehow, I'd have just repeated "I said don't be alarmed", relieving myself of any blame.
I think the best way to deal with this is to straight away say to the other person "come on, come on" as if to let them through before you go. This stops them from the whole "oh look at me I got a fright" act. If they insist in demonstrating how they got a fright then repeat "come on" in a more firm voice, as if to say "you're holding up the show now".
Please share thoughts
I remember the first time this happened to me. I was coming out of a dark hallway and the girl who was coming from the kitchen arrived at the door before me. The door opened in (towards me). She got a huge fright. I later realised that because she reached the door just before me, that it might have seemed to her that I had been standing there in the dark all along. So when she was saying "jeez Virgin, wooooah" what she was really saying was "you're weird". It confused me though! If she flat out told me that she thought I was weird I could have just said "no, you just simply happened to reach the door just before me".
I've since come across similar situations, and I think I know how to handle them. Recently when I was coming down a stairs I could see a colleague coming up from below. She was looking down so I could tell that she wasn't yet aware of my presence. I said "don't be alarmed". She immediately looked up in fright and then just smiled. Now if played up that she got more of a fright than that as if to imply that it was my fault somehow, I'd have just repeated "I said don't be alarmed", relieving myself of any blame.
I think the best way to deal with this is to straight away say to the other person "come on, come on" as if to let them through before you go. This stops them from the whole "oh look at me I got a fright" act. If they insist in demonstrating how they got a fright then repeat "come on" in a more firm voice, as if to say "you're holding up the show now".
Please share thoughts
