21 - Too little or too much gratitude for someone holding the door

So, of course, when I hold the door out for someone, I like to be thanked for it. I think I recognize when people hold it out for me, but I can't really remember. I trust that I do because people had accused me of being impolite before. Since then, saying 'please', 'thank you' and 'excuse me' has become quite instinctive for me, and it's like more of a reflex now. I benefit from an act of kindness and bam: 'thank you'. Someone thanks me and boom: 'you're welcome'. Oops, 'sorry'.

When I'm out walking around and there so happens to be a door that I can hold for a stranger behind me leaving or entering, I'll hold it for them because I can and why not? In Hong Kong, there's a general lack of common courtesy, and in my experience, people don't say thank you when you hold the door for their benefit. I didn't have to hold it out for anyone, so people could at least acknowledge the fact that I took two to five seconds out of my life saving them the time and energy they need to open the damn door themselves.

Ugh. So that's underappreciation. On the other end of the spectrum, there's also overappreciation. I took a tour of a university this summer in Canada, and our tour had around twenty people, with me consistently at the front of the pack insightfully asking the tour guide questions. Although, as we were moving around, every few minutes or so we would come to a door that needed to be opened. In total, we must've gone through close to fifty doors and me, being polite, being expected to be gentlemanly, I held the door almost every chance I could, but I actually got annoyed at hearing 'thank you' too many times, from nineteen other people, going through fifty doors. It's just a door for Christ's sake. Sssshhhh....

I guess after having lived in Hong Kong for most of my life, I'm used to the cold and bitter silence that follows my every warm, kind act. I prefer the politeness, but um, I don't really know what to think about too many people being grateful too many times.