I decided to go to the gym the other day. This gym has a sand volleyball court that no one seems to use. I was walking toward to door with my backpack, water jug and two large bags of volleyballs. Needless to say, my hands were full. As I’m walking toward the door I made eye contact with two women who are also walking toward the gym. They reached the doors before me, entered, then let the door slam behind them. Luckily I was able to catch the door with my foot. At this point all I could do was throw it open with my foot and squeeze my way through the door – very noisily, might I add. I couldn’t believe the two women did NOT hold the door for me. All I needed was one hand. That’s it. It wouldn’t have taken a lot of effort on their part. I was pretty annoyed. Even the person behind the front counter gave me a look of disbelief. I didn’t say a word and proceeded to the court.
As I’m angrily walking toward the court, I think about what I should have said to them. Maybe something like “Thanks for nothing” or “Geez, that was nice”. But then I continued thinking. Maybe they really didn’t see me. Or maybe they thought I was going somewhere else. Or maybe they grew up in a different culture or something. Ah, now I started calming down and was able to move on with my true purpose of the visit. If I’m never going to encounter them again, do I really need to say something? Probably not.
Z-Tip: When a stranger doesn’t act the way you expect, take a deep breath, think about their perspective and LET IT GO!