History Main / DoorDumb

* ''Fanfic/ThePalaververse'': In ''Treasures'', Daring is fighting to open a door while under physical danger and it takes an explosion rattling it trigger a realization that pulling on it wasn't the right way. Instead, she had to [[spoiler:slide it upwards]]:

[[DumbMuscle Those with an excess of strength or firepower and a deficiency of restrain]] may manage to [[OpenSaysMe open the door in their preferred direction]] or [[ThereWasADoor create their own, less stubborn, aperture]], to the detriment of the attached structure.

* Another joke, about an American tourist in the UK (obviously unfamiliar with British-English) found trying to squeeze his fingers ''under'' a door marked LIFT...

* There's at least one confirmed incident of a would-be robber getting stuck inside a bank because he couldn't figure out which way the door opened. He eventually realized what was up thanks to an oblivious customer, but by then, he'd given the bank cameras several minutes worth of clear footage of his face.

* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LVcUR2s4uEA The subject of a montage]] in the sixth season of ''Series/AmericanIdol''. It's worth noting that ALL those doors are double doors both of which are "push" doors but one of them is locked closed. That's illegal. People do it all the time but it's still illegal. If there's a fire people won't be able to/have time to/be allowed by the rest of the crowd to go to the other door; they'll get crushed up against that door by the fleeing mob and die. Notably, some of the doors in the clip had handles which the auditionees had tried to pull, others were purely push doors. Another note is that the final clip shows that the lock ''broke'' inbetween her adrenaline-fueled push and the consistent abuse it had taken. Simon even says "other door" as she's bursting out of it, the reflex apparently having become ingrained from so many that had tried to go through the locked door.

* Brought UpToEleven in one story of the Italian comic ''ComicBook/{{Cattivik}}''. The only obstacle between the protagonist and the apartment he intends to rob is a door that he fails to open, in spite of first pulling, then pushing, then trying to break it open, then ''begging and threatening it'', then trying to destroy it with napalm, the bombs of a B-52, an ''alien spaceship'' (in a ShoutOut to ''Film/IndependenceDay'') and even a ''[[NukeEm nuke]]''. As Cattivik surrenders in desperation, one of the people from the apartment exits and calmly opens the ''sliding door''. Cattivik takes it about as well as you'd expect.

%%* ''WesternAnimation/ThePeanutsMovie''.

* A variation in ''Film/{{The Parent Trap|1998}}'': Annie, in Hallie's house, has trouble opening the back door, because she is trying to turn the knob instead of pushing it.

* Many notable people have made this error in RealLife, including UsefulNotes/ThePresidents UsefulNotes/GeorgeWBush and UsefulNotes/BarackObama. The problem is so widespread that Donald Norman's seminal book, [[http://bactra.org/reviews/everyday-things/ The Design of Everyday Things]], devotes nearly an entire chapter to describing how this mistake is a result of deficient design. Ideally, a door should give a hint (called ''affordance'') as to whether it is PUSH or PULL. In other words, a door should not have a handle on the PUSH side, so it can't physically be pulled from that side. Placing a "pull" handle on ''both'' sides of a door invites the user to make this common mistake. Such poorly-designed doors have become known as "Norman doors".

* In the very first episode of ''WesternAnimation/Animaniacs2020'', the Warners return to their Watertown only to have trouble opening it. After many attempts to push it open, Yakko remembers how it is supposed to open.

** PlayedForDrama when Maka and Soul first fought Crona in a church. Maka tries to retreat but was in too much of a panic to notice the doors open inward -- something Crona had just said, [[TalkativeLoon among many other things]] ("Hey, everyone! These doors open inward! THEY ONLY OPEN ONE WAY!")

* Advertising/{{GEICO}}"s "Push It" ("It's What You Do") commercial opens with a guy pulling on a push door, then Salt-N-Pepa show up and sing "Push It".

* ''VideoGame/SpongeBobSquarePantsEmployeeOfTheMonth'': Patrick runs into trouble with a set of double doors in the cutscene before Chapter 3. First, he attempts to pull open the right door and gives up when it doesn't work. Then a small child exits through the door on the left, which swings inward. Patrick then pushes open the left door to enter. [[note]]It is possible that the door on the right was actually locked, but the game doesn't address it.[[/note]]

* [[UsefulNotes/AmericanFootball NFL]] humor blog Blog/KissingSuzyKolber depicts Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger as particularly stupid, with [[http://kissingsuzykolber.uproxx.com/2009/11/hines-wald-he-who-is-uncrean.html his difficulty in opening a door as one extreme example.]]

* In [[http://imgur.com/gallery/FPTWoeW?no-script=true an animated GIF]], a little stickman unleashes a variety of anime, manga and video game [[ShoutOut shout-outs]] to try and open a stubborn door. When all this fails to work and he finally collapses in exhaustion, the door finally falls...''outward.''

* The translated lyrics of one of the opera songs in the ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' novel ''Literature/{{Maskerade}}'' may relate to this, though it's unclear whether the person singing the aria is pulling against a door that opens outwards ([[JustifiedTrope thanks to a mislabeled sign]]), or if the door is just stuck. Probably the latter as one of the lyrics specifies that the damn door "[[MortonsFork sticks no matter what the hell I do]]."

* Advertising/{{GEICO}}"s "Push It" ("It's What You Do") commercial opens with a guy pulling on a push door, then Salt-N-Pepa show up and sing "Push It."

* Many notable people have made this error in RealLife, including UsefulNotes/ThePresidents UsefulNotes/GeorgeWBush and UsefulNotes/BarackObama. The problem is so widespread that Donald Norman's seminal book, [[http://bactra.org/reviews/everyday-things/ The Design of Everyday Things]], devotes nearly an entire chapter to describing how this mistake is a result of deficient design. Ideally, a door should give a hint (called ''affordance'') as to whether it is PUSH or PULL. In other words, a door should not have a handle on the PUSH side, so it can't physically be pulled from that side. Placing a "pull" handle on ''both'' sides of a door invites the user to make this common mistake. Such poorly-designed doors have become known as "Norman doors."

* ''WesternAnimation/MickeyDonaldGoofyTheThreeMusketeers'': When Mickey and Donald can't pull open the door to the tower where Princes Minnie is being held, Goofy tries to ram it down by running into it. But then Mickey notices a "PUSH" sign on the door and [[DoorJudo opens it just before Goofy can hit it]].

* Many notable people have made this error in RealLife, including UsefulNotes/ThePresidents UsefulNotes/GeorgeWBush and UsefulNotes/BarackObama. The problem is so widespread that Donald Norman's seminal book, [[http://bactra.org/reviews/everyday-things/ The Design of Everyday Things]], devotes nearly an entire chapter to describing how this mistake is a result of deficient design. Ideally, a door should give a hint (called ''affordance'') as to whether it is PUSH or PULL. In other words, a door should not have a handle on the PUSH side, so it can't physically be pulled from that side. Placing a "pull" handle on ''both'' sides of a door invites the user to make this common mistake.

* ''WesternAnimation/CodenameKidsNextDoor'': In "Operation: F.A.S.T.-F.O.O.D.", Numbuh Three goes to open the double sided door to the fast food restaurant, after trying to open from the left side and failing Numbuh One opens it from the right without any trouble.

* PlayedForDrama in ''Literature/{{Solaris}}'', when Harey, panicking, tries to get out of the room. Pulling the door that opens outside plus SuperStrenght equals one broken door and a thoroughly freaked out protagonist.

* In "[[Recap/MonstersAtWorkS1E2MeetMift Meet MIFT]]" from ''WesternAnimation/MonstersAtWork'', Tylor shouts at the [=MIFT=] about how ridiculous they are, even as he pulls repeatedly at a door trying to get out of their office, before being told to push.

* Deconstructed in the very first sketch of ''Series/IThinkYouShouldLeaveWithTimRobinson'', to [[CringeComedy an almost nightmarish degree]]. A man turns to leave after finishing a job interview in a public setting and accidentally pulls the door out. Both he and the interviewer immediately recognize his mistake, but rather than admit weakness or fault, he repeatedly insists "it does both", and continues to pull so hard that the frame and hinges break apart and he's left ''drooling'' from the exertion. It does not help that he occasionally looks back to [[TheUnSmile smile as though nothing's wrong]].