After You....

I had an interesting experience today.

I used the elevator for the first time when leaving the metro station. This was not interesting.

I entered the elevator with 3 men, 2 of which were in their mid to late 50’s. The third man was probably in his late 30’s early 40’s. This also was not interesting.

As the doors opened for us to leave the metro station each of us paused. I was at the back of the escalator and having been raised to respect my elders gave the standard “after you” comment. Each of these gentlemen should have exited first. This is not interesting; actually, it is rather common in my life.

All three men took an extra step back; one gentleman even repeated my words: “after you”. They watched me; waiting until I walked between them and exited the elevator first. This I found interesting.

It is not often, that I find myself the recipient of such behavior. As a matter of fact, I have never had this happen. On rare occasions I will have a man hold a door for me. Usually they are strangers, as is the case in today's incident, but I can think of at least one gentleman in my life that will continually do things such as this. It gives you a nice feeling to be respected in such a way. I can understand why women of earlier generations found this appealing. I do not understand why more women of today do not appreciate it.

By the by, I did thank the gentlemen in the elevator this evening, I may have been a little flustered, but I do have manners. :)