to be puzzled....

[TandB]

...by the behaviour of a visitor to my office?

We have a very small office, spread across 3 floors. My room is on the middle floor along with the toilet so visitors regularly come past.

We have very heavy doors from the stairs to each hallway - these are never closed because they jam on the carpets and it takes massive amounts of pushing and dragging at them to get them either open or closed. They have door-stops under them, but I don't know why as the building could fall down and these doors still wouldn't budge!

A visitor just went to the toilet, passing through the open door which is right by my room. On her way back I heard the doorstop being removed and the sound of her panting and pushing to try and close the door. I called through to say to leave it - it doesn't close. "It's OK," came the cheerful reply. "I can do it." So I shouted through again "no, really, that door stays open all the time". "It's fine," she shouted back. "I can get it shut". "Actually, we'd like it left open please." More panting and "it's ok, it's moving!" More sounds of scraping and dragging and finally the door was shoved as far shut as she could get it and she toddled back off downstairs.

So I am now sitting behind a door that will probably take 2 of us to open again wondering what the bloody hell that was about? There are no privacy issues - there is more than one other door on this visitor's route back to where she came from - and the door was propped open.

AIBU to wonder why on earth you would be so desperate to close an entirely random door that you removed the doorstop and wrestled it closed against the background protests of increasingly insistant office resident? When I am in someone else's home or office I tend to leave the layout/furniture the way I find it and not decide to seal innocent staff members behind doors!

[Andrewofgg]

There's nowt so queer as folk, is there?

[TandB]

scaredbear - if she had done a smelly poo then she was sealing me in with said stench!

[Andrewofgg]

kung Your last post proves how right my last post was :o

[MoaninMinny]

surely thats against some form of fire regs??

[zingzillachinchilla]

Agree - definitely smelly poo - by the time you get those doors open all odours will have dissipated.

I hate to sound like a jobsworth but aren't there some fire regs being contravened if your doors are that heavy and difficult to open - is there an alternative fire escape?

[TandB]

Probably, Minny, but I was a bit too confused to start quoting health and safety at her while she was industriously closing the door!

Actually it probably isn't, come to think of it - we have a very odd layout where our office is effectively a vertical slice out of larger premises so we have our own entrance but our fire escapes/fire doors are shared with next door. If we ever have to flee for our lives, I believe we have to do so through Abbey National.

[ponders where the vault is and whether a brief diversion could be made mid-evacuation]

[TandB]

x-posted

[EllaDee]

She started, then didn't like to stop because she felt embarrassed? You can do odd things when you're in a bit of a fluster!

But yes, it is strange.

[ChippingInToThePumpkinLantern]

I have matches

[GhoulieGussets]

My take on it is that she is either hard of hearing or didn't hear what you were saying properly and pretended she did. That's all. Just saying.

[TandB]

ChippingIn - did you torch the Pound Shop on our other side then? I bet it was you, wasn't it!

[itbird]

if the door leads off from the stairs it is a fire door and should be closed at all times for several reasons: the stairs mainly provide an exit in the event of fire and are a protected space in the event of fire, the fire doors will provide the protection in so much as they take longer to ignite/burn, also they stop the fire spreading from floor to floor. They should never be wedged open and you or the person responsible for fire safety are breaking the law and could receive a hefty fine. Suggest you consult your local fire officer for clarification and advice.

[HairyBeaver]

Perhaps it was that woman you had a car stand off with months ago [hwink]

[TandB]

[ponders possibility that strange visitor was enforcing fire regulations]

[rejects theory in favour of massive poo suggestion]

[ScarahStratton]

Hully's right. There's some sort of poo obsession going on atm. [hhmm]

[colken]

Instead of calling 'through' to her, why didn't you get up and go to her?