I will admit it … I do not have the best manners. My shirt is quite often found untucked, I make far too many “6-7” jokes in the middle of normal conversations and I cut teachers off in the parking lot.
It’s not my fault that I’m a 10-mph-speed-demon down Trinity Prep Lane. But for all my flaws, there are some rules of etiquette I take very seriously. So for this month’s chat, allow me to graciously burst your bubble like Mr. Blickman in the middle of class to alert you of your afterschool testing.
I didn’t think it would have to come to this, but we need to learn how to walk better, guys. Specifically, I’m talking about that solid 30 seconds of pure pandemonium after assemblies and chapels where students rush out of the auditorium and knock down anyone blocking their path to their mid-morning Grille snack.
I can’t say I know for sure how Mufasa felt when he was stampeded by a herd of wildebeest, but I think I have a pretty good idea.
While I can dust off my khakis after a good tumble, what I can’t brush over is the sheer lack of door etiquette plaguing our campus like some kind of anti-politeness epidemic.
I would like to hope that whoever invented the double door intended for it to be used just like any kind of traffic: The goer opens the door on the RIGHT side and lets the exiters walking in the OTHER direction leave through the OTHER side. Unfortunately, Trinity students haven’t gotten that memo.
Picture this: Innocent, dainty and unsuspecting me opens the door on the right side to exit Brokaw. But instead of me walking out to my next class, I find myself holding the door open for the next three minutes as a flock of kids enter in on the wrong side. Sometimes I don’t even make it to the door before a tidal wave of teenagers start entering.
I hope that the next time you find yourself waiting to exit the auditorium, you choose to walk at a non-threatening pace and simply go with the flow of traffic. And — if it’s not too much to ask — could you just do me a solid and use the right side of the door? It is called the “right” side for a reason, after all.
