i work at retail and today at work i was going to use the bathroom and there was this lady in a mobility cart that i was going to pass by to go inside the restroom, but I thought it might be seen as rude if I didn’t offer to help her get inside since I’ve seen her before and she seems to have a little trouble getting around. So I ask her and she kinda stares at me and finally says something I can’t really hear and I think she said no? She doesn’t seem mad, though. At this point it feels really awkward and I’m feeling like oof I think I made the wrong choice here and I just made things weird for no reason, so I say okay and go inside to use the restroom. I was thinking I probably shouldn’t have offered to hold the door open for her because it may have been rushing her which would have been rude.
She gets inside the restroom after a moment and after she gets in the stall, I’m not sure if she was talking into a Bluetooth or something, but she starts to sound angry and starts kinda yelling about people stalking her and something about delinquents? Delinquents stalking her, or people treating her like a delinquent, I’m not sure. At this point I’m kind of worried and freaked out and I wash my hands and leave. I left feeling like an absolute freak who made things awkward for no reason and kinda freaked out that the lady might be mad at me.
I thought it was polite to offer to hold doors open, is it weird in this situation? like… do you offer to hold doors open but mind your business if it’s a restroom door? even though i’ve had people hold the door open for me before or vice versa… Or is it the way I asked, which was kinda awkward I guess? I couldn’t hear her so maybe she didn’t hear me? What do you think, did I really mess up here?
Tbh, I probably should just mind my own business at work and not try to be nice because people don’t seem to appreciate when I’m nice there anyways and I’m apparently bad at it.
2 comments
You’re overthinking it. Nothing you did was weird.
Personally, I wouldn’t worry about it, although if you don’t hear what someone says, it probably doesn’t hurt to ask them to repeat it.
I either hold a door for someone or I don’t. I usually do if I see someone close by, disabled or not. As long as that is I was pretty sure where she was headed, I would’ve held the door. If someone seems older, or has mobility issues, I usually hold it all the way and I will wait for them to go through. If someone looks to be in good shape, I walk through but keep my hand on it, so it the door never slams in their face.
It’s over, and you tried, so just assume she was having a tough day. You can’t be sure she was talking about you. I don’t think it was weird at all.