Facepalm

As far as I know, that's a requirement here for sake of fire safety, especially in facilities that only have one door to exit such as hotel rooms and many apartments.

After many years of use in one direction, it'll wear out a bushing inside and eventually stop opening one way until repaired or replaced. Being able to open by turning either way gives a backup way to open it in a pinch.

The way they're designed, it seems about stupid to not have them open either way. Every search result for 'doorknob only turns one way' takes me to a repair tutorial.

I'm not doubting you, I haven't worked on every model doorknob and lock out there, but if there really are doorknobs out there that only turn in one direction by design, then the engineers that designed it are stupid and don't have your safety in mind.