The news story is a bit tongue-in-cheek: what kind of idiot can’t manage to properly use a revolving door?
British paper The Sun, reported that workers at the global broadcaster’s offices in Birmingham in central England had been issued with a memo advising them on how to get through a revolving door.
The newspaper reports an email sent to 800 staff, complete with matchstick man diagrams for ease of understanding, comes after one worker trapped her foot in the new doors at the BBC’s offices in Britain’s second city, cracking a toenail.
“Follow these simple steps each time you use the doors,” says the memo entitled Revolving Security Door User Instructions.
“To enter the secure space move directly into the revolving door compartment. The door will start automatically. One person per compartment. Keep hands, feet and bags away from the edges of the door.”
Now, before you start laughing at the mere idea of door instructions, let me tell you this: I have been in the revolving door at BBC Television Centre, and it is a carousel of horrors. It’s a huge revolving door, but not like the kind we have here. Our revolving doors are a kind of 4-compartment “X” shaped affair that you step in and push. At the BBC, it’s a very large 2-compartment thing that is motorized. What’s more, it is automatic. You can’t quite be sure when it’s going to start up and sweep you along. There seem to be some sensors that activate it, sometimes it starts up before you’re in it. I sat in the BBC lobby for about 15 minutes watching all kinds of people try to navigate it, with varying degrees of success. The two compartments are separated by blocked-off sections of glass, when the door stops, it blocks the entrance with a glass barrier. This, my friends, is the high-tech answer to a question no one asked. Precisely why the BBC needed this rotating absurdity is beyond me. My office has a set of doors that simply open and need no electricity, motors, or instructions.
That’s the top of the said door, at the bottom right of the photo.
The Department of Labor building at 3rd and C has a similar door – I dread having to use the Post Office there for just such a reason. That and the guards ALWAYS misplace my photo ID, and have to spend 10 minutes searching for it on their little table.