Doors Open, Toronto

There's a guy who routinely stands outside the Tim Hortons near my office and opens the door for patrons.

This seems to be his "job". 

He's often joined by one or two others who might sit on a pop crate nearby, lounge against the wall, or take up residence in a nearby doorway. They're his support staff.

The door opener greets everyone who enters and leaves the building. He usually holds a coffee cup -- empty -- which he holds out for donations. 

He's not too aggressive about it.

He's been doing this job for months now. He stood guard all through the winter. So the coffee shop regulars know him. 

Many of them -- particularly the women -- know him by name. In fact, he's taken to peppering his door opening with the odd acknowledgement of a new hairstyle, a spiffy new outfit or a "everything ok, you look glum?"

I vacillate wildly as to what I think of this.

I'm not prone to giving money to people on street unless they're "participating in their own development" -- so I might, for example, give to someone who is selling the Outreach, because I know they need to purchase it, in order to sell it. 

So the door opener would fall into this category, I guess. He's found a niche, and he's filling it.

But the thing is: I don't really want him to open the door for me. I'd really prefer to open the door myself. 

So, in this regard, the door opener is more like kids who rush out at a red light to try to clean your car windows. 

In the world of marketing, we call this the "up front premium". It's delivering a product or service first, and then expecting to be compensated later -- witness the proliferation of address labels, personalized note pads and Christmas cards that are stuffed into your mailbox.

And there's another thing. 

Unlike many of the folks who have befriended the door opener, I'm not really interested in developing a relationship with him. Or at least this kind of relationship. It seems disingenuous. Like I have a "pet" homeless person.

Feeling like I'm doing something for this homeless guy doesn't make me feel any better about homelessness in Toronto, in general.

Maybe I need to drink less coffee and stop thinking so much.