If you have an automatic door for the outside doors

[conuly]

why do you also need a doorman for the inner set?

These and other questions will never be answered, least of all by the doorman.

************

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Comments

[adafrog]

Maybe they have a really good union.

[conuly]

Do they have a union at all?

[adafrog]

Google says yes.

[peoriapeoriawhereart]

Because there are so many other functions of a doorman, but if he/she isn't by the doors how would you know what to call them.

[conuly]

Amazing.

[conuly]

BUT HE OPENED THE SECOND SET OF DOORS FOR ME!

And I'm standing there going "Why would they split the difference in this way? Why not make both sets automatic or both sets doorman only or...?"

[lilysea]

Even with an automated door, Doormen can:

a) help someone with their arms full of parcels/bags who might not have a hand free to press the door button

b) take delivery of mail/parcels from post men/couriers

c) challenge strangers who tailgate through the automatic doors

d) provide an added layer of security to stop foyer muggings

e) be someone you can call if you have a safety issue in your apartment.

[wpadmirer]

Fascinating stuff!

[peoriapeoriawhereart]

Frankly, one of them was likely mandatory to automate and the other one would have be aesthetically compromising and since they do have a union, there you go, it looks nice, he's not crowding in the vestibule and you're out of the wet and he can clarify who you are before he can't trip you.

[greghousesgf]

The Phantom Tollbooth was one of my favorite books as a kid and I can't read the article because it's blocked by a giant brick-looking ad demanding that I make a donation. :(

update: OK, I got rid of the damn ad. excellent article.

[zesty_pinto]

Security theater? That's how I saw it.

[lusentoj]

I don't know if it's really a "doorman" (I always thought of them as "guardmen") but at my apartment building, if someone has a bunch of groceries or seems to be slow in getting our their key-card he'll open the door for them. They double as security guards so if someone's friend comes over and that friend unlocks the door via the button in their apartment, the guard will stop the visitor and ask "who are you visiting, where's your key-card" etc. He accepts packages for the residents if the secretary isn't there, and instructs guests how to fill out the "guestbook" (you have to record your entry and exit time if you're a guest). If you have problems you can talk to him in the middle of the night since he'll be the only staff there, ex. if you need stomach meds he'll look to see if there's some in the secretary's office, or if your neighbour is being noisy he'll convey the news to the secretary for the next day. I assume they do more stuff I don't know about considering they have piles of papers on their desks, but most of guardmen's work seems to be made up of sitting in front of the heater watching TV or chatting to each other lol.

[smokingboot]

Churchill, yup, war criminal. He crystalised the UK's idea of indomitable Britishness at the very point when such self-identification was needed,and that was invaluable, but there is also an element of the grotesque about it. He who helped us win WWII also helped bring it about with his enthusiasm for WWI. This first great horror set the conditions for the second. It just gets forgotten all the time. That's the film that needs to be made.

[conuly]

Good luck seeing it happen in our lifetimes.

[elenbarathi.livejournal.com]

The doorman certainly isn't going to tell you that his job is 100% 'security theatre', and exists only as justification for charging higher rents.

People don't trust those automatic doors. We've all seen a zillion shows wherein an unauthorized person tricks someone into buzzing him in. The fact that a doorman could be tricked just as easily doesn't occur to the simple-minded. Also, of course, humans don't feel 'served' by mechanical devices. A uniformed doorman at the door is a relatively inexpensive way to give a place cachet it otherwise would lack, and a lot of people are willing to pay for cachet - even totally illusory cachet, because they don't know the difference.