Closed door; drawn shades = come in?

[Cookies Galore]

A work friend (as the op called her) is different than barging in on your boss or Hank from accounting. Sure, it is in bad form to just open the door, but my work friends have personal access to me than anyone else here, so Im not going to sulk about it and act like she's the rudest person in the world. My work friends are mire than welcome to pop over when Im eating lunch. Again, just open your mouth and say "hey buddy, you mind knocking when i have the door closed?".

[greenstone]

This has been interesting to read. I never realized how different my workplace is from what appears to be very common. In my office, we have an ‘open door policy’, ie you are not to shut yourself away from or be unavailable to others. Our offices and cubicles are viewed as our workspace, not personal (or private) space. The only office we can’t just walk into is our Center Director’s.
I will give a soft knock on a door sometimes so I don’t startle the person by just appearing next to them but it’s typical to just walk in whether the door is open or not. All our doors have large windows in them so if there is a meeting going on, you can see that and come back later, same with someone being on the phone but it is frowned upon to routinely keep your door closed. People will put signs on the door if they are on a conference call or working on a manuscript and don’t wish to be disturbed.
This may be because we have a very loose hierarchy in my office and no one’s work is viewed as more important than anyone else’s.

Locking yourself in your office to do something personal would seem inappropriate if it happened regularly, with the possible exception of pumping. We have a designated private pumping room whenever one is need, so even that would be unnecessary. The assumption would be if you lock yourself in your office you were doing something that should not be done in the office in the first place. Here, if you desperately need ‘me’ time, you would be better off leaving the office for a bit.

I do have issue with people who don’t respect your lunch time as being off the clock. I don’t care if I am sitting at my desk or the outside picnic table, I don’t want someone to sit down to discuss the latest thought that just popped into their head. It’s polite to say ‘I have something to discuss with you, find me later – or - I’ll come by later.’

[TheOtherMe]

The place where I closed the door during lunch but the boss had no problems coming in to my office did not have a lunch place. We either ate lunch at our desks, which we did most of the time, or ate out.

I always felt like our lunch time, since it was not paid, should have been respected.

That was the only place where I have felt as if the boss interfered with my personal time. I lived close by, but not close enough to go home, eat and get back. I took my lunch as there was a refrigerator.

We were not allowed to knock on his door if it was closed, no matter the time of day.

[Deleted]

I used to work in a truly open office- no cubes, even. It was ridiculous. I'd get in early and try to take an hour in the library to study for actuarial exams in the morning, and people would try and start conversations with me as they passed by (it was a shortcut from one side of the floor to the other). I was taught to be too darn polite, but 5 minutes of conversation could mean another 10 minutes to get my focus back.

I consider it rude to barge in on anyone who's on the phone or has a closed door or other signal that they don't want to be disturbed, unless it's something that needs their attention immediately. Even then I'd knock first.

[zibazinski]

It is rude and it would cause me to wonder, as my grandmother would say, were they brought up in a barn?