People are SO STUPID ... !!!!

I went to the BookCrossing meetup here in Oslo yesterday, and afterwards I went to a couple of bookstores with my friends Findabair and NyxRo. We went to Norli in University Street and then around the corner to Tanum in Paleet. The following happened in the latter store.

We went in via the main entrance (ie the one closest to the street corner). Findabair went to the foreign section to look for a Stieg Larsson book in Swedish, and NyxRo wandered off ... to the psychology section, I think. I stopped to browse the rack of Paperblanks just inside the entrance (I just love Paperblanks, they are the most beautiful journals around - and what a selection).

As I was standing there, this couple - kind of chubby and fortyish, I'd say - came up to the entrance. Which is a door that you have to physically open which then closes behind you (not automatically, it's just weighted). On the other side of the door, in the entrance area, was this other chubby fortyish guy ... he was their friend apparently, he was waiting for them. The man went for the door, but the woman said No, look, it's No Exit. (There's a sign on the inside of the door that indicates this.) The man stopped and then stood there and looked dumbly at the sign for a couple of moments. Then they started talking to each other, saying Oh no, that's too bad, we'll have to go around the other side.

WTF?? I mean, I appreciate a law-abiding citizen as much as the next person, but hello!

Then they waved to their friend outside and the man made some weird hand signals that I think were supposed to indicate that they would go around and use the exit doors. Their friend looked confused but remained standing there. Then, and here's the clincher - as they were starting to leave, the man suddenly turned back, grabbed the door handle and pulled. The door wouldn't budge. The man turned around again, back to the woman, shoulders slumping in a defeated way - obviously thinking Yeah, it really is No Exit.

What I wanted to do was to smack the idiot upside the head and shout, oh, I don't know, THE DOOR OPENS OUTWARDS, DUMBASS!!!

But being a well brought up young person from a properly furnished home I of course did no such thing.

Alas.

Some friends that guy has got, too, who won't so much as open a door to help him, but just stands there gawking like an idiot. The big lug.