I have a question I’d like to ask female viewers watching right now — although I suspect, male viewers might be interested in knowing too.
Ladies, if a guy holds a door open for you, do you like it, or feel patronized by it?
The reason I ask is that I did just that for a woman, leaving a building Thursday night. She was not pleased.
“Do I look paralyzed to you?” she asked.
I was so taken aback that I didn’t know what to say, or even what she was saying herself.
She went on to explain how I had just earlier stepped out of her way on the elevator to let her off.
I just assumed it was the gentlemanly thing to do. I guess I’m a bit old fashioned. But she was not and she clearly wasn’t into “gentlemanly.”
When I recomposed myself, I had to follow her.
“Excuse me,” I asked — now feeling every bit of my offended macho Italian roots — “but exactly what bug got up your butt?”
“Treating me like I have to be coddled,” she said.
“By opening a door?” I asked.
She went onto explain the door thing was part and parcel of a bigger thing: An attempt by men, she said, to make women feel like they’re lesser.
It made me think and it made me worry.
So let me ask you, ladies: Do you find it offensive when some big klutz like me opens a door that I’m patronizing you, or, in the case of this young woman, “offending” you?
I’d like to know. I’ll report your answers on Monday.
Watch Neil Cavuto weekdays at 4 p.m. ET on “Your World with Cavuto” and send your comments to cavuto@foxnews.com
Leave a Reply