The latest age signifier has nothing to do with knowing what music the kids are listening to, or whether your socks are showing: it’s all about your doorbell. Namely, if you weren’t expecting anybody, and it rang, would you answer it? Apparently your reply to this pressing matter (no pun, etc) instantly identifies which generation you’re part of.
Millennials and gen Z wouldn’t dream of opening the door. Bonus points for being aware that if it was a fellow gen Zer calling, they wouldn’t have rung the bell in the first place – they would have messaged “outside” or “here” instead.
If the bell tolls for boomers they leap up – if still able – to answer, because it simply wouldn’t occur to them not to. Maybe they’re further buoyed up by the much-discussed stage of evolution they’ve reached, where they couldn’t care less what anybody thinks of them. So what if it turns out that whoever’s at the door is not someone they want to see? Presumably they just slam it in their face.
Gen Xers like me are caught between responses – our hearts are gen Z but our heads are boomer. We may not want to, but feel obliged to answer the door, and usually regret it. I’ve been held captive by every chugger who has ever worked my street, because those conversations are tricky to get out of without appearing diabolical.
It’s easy to poke fun at millennials and gen Z for their general mindset, being scared of full stops and the like, but they’re doing God’s work here with their door policy. They’re teaching a much-needed lesson to those who insist – despite being called out by Jerry Seinfeld in 1992 and countless others since – on performing the “pop-in”. How can anybody still think this is acceptable behaviour? Always call first, please – and by call, obviously I mean text.
• Polly Hudson is a freelance writer
