If someone's office door is closed...

[icedcoffee]

What do you do?

I have my door open literally 7.5 hours out of an 8 hour day.  I've started closing it while I eat lunch because it's nice to have some privacy while I shove food in my face.  I cannot believe the number of people who knock in that 30 minutes.  Do I need a note on my door?

LEAVE ME ALONE FOR 30 MINUTES, PLEASE!

When I see someone's door is closed I either shoot them an email or come back later.  Am I weird?

[Captain Catnip]

I knock, but it is usually someone who always had the door closed when they are there. I always had mine closed, too, when I had an office, so people knocked.

[thelurkylulu]

Unless I know they aren’t on a call or have someone in their office, I knock. That said, I also only go to someone’s office if I absolutely need something right away. Otherwise, email is my go to.

[bex1973]

The only time I close my door is during lunch as well. Some repeat offenders continue to knock but thankfully for the most part folks honor the door. I finally said something in our staff meeting and it has gotten better since then. It helps that we all share our calendars so people can look and see I'm at lunch.

[Leeham Rimes]

Not that I work in an office now, but when I did a closed door meant "don't bother me" so I'd send them a message if it was something urgent that couldn't wait until the door opened.

[bex1973]

Sept 21, 2018 11:47:59 GMT -5 thelurkylulu said:

Unless I know they aren’t on a call or have someone in their office, I knock. That said, I also only go to someone’s office if I absolutely need something right away. Otherwise, email is my go to.

Like you want them to stop having lunch and complete the task?

I'm not knocking you in particular but I think it's terrible that people feel like they have to work through lunch.

[Leeham Rimes]

Now, if it was closed all the time, i'd probably be an offending knocker.

[bex]

I knock. I don't think its a horrible thing to knock, lol. I also am not bothered if someone says "can you come back later?" We had a woman here this past spring who would pump in her office and she would put up a sign saying "do not disturb" (I don't think most people realized that's what she was actually doing, lol, but she told me.) and some other people put up similar signs - "on conference call, please come back" or whatever.

[sandandsea]

We have clear windows next to the door so everyone hand signals. Otherwise I would send an IM of the door was closed.

[icedcoffee]

Sept 21, 2018 11:55:16 GMT -5 bex said:

I knock. I don't think its a horrible thing to knock, lol. I also am not bothered if someone says "can you come back later?" We had a woman here this past spring who would pump in her office and she would put up a sign saying "do not disturb" (I don't think most people realized that's what she was actually doing, lol, but she told me.) and some other people put up similar signs - "on conference call, please come back" or whatever.

I just find it weird to be shouting through the door.  Also--if I was on the phone it's kind of annoying and weird to have to shout "come back later!" or "come in!"  I don't know.  I always assume if someone's door is closed that now's not a good time.  At my old job I never had people knock if it was closed.

If I ever pump at work again I'm going to need to use a sign for sure.  And maybe block the door with a chair because these people don't seem to GAF.

I've knocked on someone's door once in the past 6 months and it was for what I thought was an actual emergency.

[lust2hart]

Our office has an open-door policy so when the door is closed, it means "do not disturb."

But if I worked in a place where some people kept their doors open and some did not, I would knock - because unless I work with you often or work near you, I wouldn't remember that you generally keep your door open and therefore, a closed door means you don't want to be disturbed.

That said, remember that you don't have to answer a knock. Unless people can see into your office, I would probably lock the door and just not answer.

[killercupcake]

Sometimes I’ll knock but I generally assume someone is not available if their door is closed.

The number of students who try to open our closed office doors is boggling to me though. They’ll knock and then jiggle the handle. Like, who taught you that?

[thelurkylulu]

Sept 21, 2018 11:51:29 GMT -5 bex1973 said:

Sept 21, 2018 11:47:59 GMT -5 thelurkylulu said:

Unless I know they aren’t on a call or have someone in their office, I knock. That said, I also only go to someone’s office if I absolutely need something right away. Otherwise, email is my go to.

Like you want them to stop having lunch and complete the task?

I'm not knocking you in particular but I think it's terrible that people feel like they have to work through lunch.

No, I probably wouldn’t interrupt lunch. I think a lot of it depends on your office culture too. People here tend to work with their doors closed because the noise level/set up of the office.

[ohgillian]

In my office a closed door means "don't disturb." The only person I know who knocks is one man with poor social skills. I have told him that a closed door means "don't knock" but he continues to do it.

[wildrice]

I think a closed door means the person is busy. I would not knock unless I knew we had an appointment.

[trytobearunner34]

I would knock.  It wouldn't dawn on me not to unless there was a sign.

[lolalolalola]

We only close our doors if we don't want to be disturbed. If urgent, we will knock though. If not urgent, we will send an email or come back. 

[arch01]

I only close mine when I need privacy for something. When anyone moves into my office or is hired, it's one of the things I go over with people. If the door is shut, no need to peer through my window to see if I am actually busy-the door is really shut for a reason and rarely gets shut.

[katiecj6]

I email or leave a voicemail unless it's urgent, then I knock. (Only done with my boss since I've been her admin for 5 years and I know what she wants to be interrupted for)

I close my door to eat while I work (I walk on my lunch) and I just tell the receptionist to come in if she needs me.

[clippy]

Old job - everyone kept their office doors open unless they didn't want to be disturbed

New job - everyone keeps their office doors closed so I knock. I still feel weird knocking so I usually only knock if I absolutely need to.

[eddy]

I don’t knock unless it is a work emergency. Closed door means do not disturb or I am not here.

[housewife]

Our office walls are glass with solid doors, so if a door is closed everyone looks through the glass wall to see what they're doing. Doors are usually only shut though if you've got a call on speaker phone or bullshitting and don't want your voice to travel down the hall. We're kind of a rude bunch.

[blondemoment123]

Keep walking and send an IM or email if it’s important.

[mustardseed2007]

One law firm I worked at had a red light that over the door that you could activate that meant Do Not Disturb. Lawyers would use it for conference calls, working on a tight deadline etc.

[lessel]

We put magnets on our doors where I work for various things... Teleworking, At Lunch, Conference Call, Do Not Disturb, etc. It's nice because pretty much everyone does it though. If no one else did it, I don't know if I'd want to be the one weird door magnet person.

[flex]

I always knocked unless I knew it was an important and/or confidential meeting. But our office doors had a small window in them so if someone was eating at their desk, I'd go by later or send an e-mail.

[Mrs.flang]

I've never worked anywhere that people closed their doors on the regular, so if it was closed I would just go back later.

We have a pump room but there have been times I've used my office so I could get more work done. I put a sign up and also block the door with a chair.

[mccallister84]

If the door is generally open I only knock for an emergency.

[shauni27]

I think it depends on the office and the person and the situation.

My old boss would have her door shut some days only when she was on calls, other days all the time because she was just busy. We would still need her attention to something, sometimes immediately, and so we would knock. Also, if someone has their door shut all the time I would knock, or if they had glass doors or windows I would signal, "is it ok to come in?"

If it is an office where normally people have doors open and only close them occasionally for something, then I would come back later or email to say "when you are done with XYZ, come to my office please, or let me know." etc.

[kath16]

it's completely dependent on office culture. last boss having a closed door was completely meaningless. there was a side light and if he was on the phone people would leave him alone, but otherwise people knocked and tried to make eye contact and he would signal them to come in (or not)

current office, boss' door is only shut for calls and meetings. it's also completely clear so you can see everything happening in there.