Why do People walk 3 and 4 abrest on a Sidewalk and absoultely REFUSE to
Yield to other passerssby?
In my mind, there is an imaginary line dividing the sidewalk…
I have 1/2 and they have 1/2.
The roadways of America have spilled over to the Sidewalks!
People are Arrogant,Rude,egocentric SideWalk Hogs…
I absoulutely hate them all !!!
So stand your ground. Literally. Come to a halt, staying on your side of the sidewalk, and look at them as they near you. Sooner or later they will break formation and flow around you.
Probably mumbling insults while they do it, but who cares?
When that happens to me, I stay on course and “look in some other direction” while keeping them in my peripheral vision. Though I thankfully haven’t had the opportunity to have to do this often, the times I can recall, they have taken evasive action (no doubt stewing about how I should be watching were I’m going).
Heck-I wish they’d stay on the sidewalk. Walking 4 abreast in the street was the norm when I lived in suburban Phila.
Yes, this infuriates me, too.
If i’m walking in a group of three or four people, i always make sure that i hang back or walk ahead if someone is coming the other way. Why people can’t do such a simple thing out of consideration for others is beyond me.
It’s got to the stage where i keep walking, act as if i’m just strolling casually, but brace my shoulder and body for the impact if they don’t let me have my sliver of footpath.
They’re the same people who stand under door jambs and chat.
May I add, “New York is not for moseying!” If you want to “mosey,” get the hell back to East Assboink, Iowa—I have places to go and things to do and I will push you right in front of that speeding cab.
I finally got fed up with this in my college days- I vowed that the next group that would not yield my share of the sidewalk would pay the price. Three girls walked abreast my way and would not move, I just lowered my shoulder and sent the little bitch flying. And if felt good!
Not only does this happen on the sidewalks but it carries over into buildings. I find nothing more frustrating that walking along the hallways in the hospital only to be slowed down/come to a complete stop because of three or four people walking abreast (or in some other combination as to prevent anyone from passing from behind or from the other direction) or stopping in the middle of the hallway to talk.
A good hint for these clueless individuals is that if you hear “code blue” called over the intercom and a large pack of doctors/med students/etc. coming rushing your way, move over. If you don’t, you will likely get forced out of the way.
The one exception to my getting frustrated with people gathering in the hallways is that there are certain areas (by a waiting room) where if you see a group of people meeting it is usually a family meeting about a patient’s condition and often about bad news. In that situation, my being inconvenienced by having to squeeze past is very trivial compared to what they are dealing with.
These are the same people who barge into elevators the second the door opens (in case you don’t know, people exiting the elevator have the right of way)!
Stand your ground and do NOT move off the sidewalk! Look directly at them. If you bump shoulders, make sure you look back and smile. 
People also seem to think that if you are running on a sidewalk, that a walker takes precedence. Like a runner is naturally supposed to run around the walkers.
But, just to reiterate, if you’re walking 3 or 4 abreast, one should fall behind for the brief time it takes for the other person to pass by.
Let me add the people walking in front of you who cannot walk in a straight line. And walk as slow as humanly possible. I dodge left to move around them, they meander left just in time to block me. I dart right, and whattaya know, so do they. I swear one of these days I’m just gonna put on some football pads and barrel right through em.
Or the people who come to a dead stop for no apparent reason. Gonna tie brakelights to people’s asses soon.
Well, the walkers do take precedence. It’s a sidewalk, not a track. If you’re sufficiently intent on getting your exercise that you’ll jog on a completely unsuitable surface (just begging for shinsplints) in an inhospitable environment (drawing car exhaust deep down into your laboring lungs), then going around me shouldn’t be that big a hassle.
Do you really expect dozens, maybe hundreds, of people to all step out of your way because you choose to run on a sidewalk intended for walking?
I heartily agree, although I’ll cut some slack for obvious tourist destinations. It’s even more stupid for a New Yorker to bitch about people standing gape-eyed and slack-jawed in Times Square - the New Yorker should know better.
But it seems really hard for tourists to get that walking is transportation here, not leisure. When they’re back at home, I’ll bet they aren’t happy to sit behind some Sunday driver during rush hour, and I wish they’d stop doing the same here!
A glare and a “hey get the fuck out of the way!” have yet to fail me. I try not to do it too much, but shit, this is NY.
[sidebar pits]
People at an event (trade show, flea market, etc) who become a walking roadblock in an aisle. Invariably, they’re going the same direction as you are, and are oblivious to the people behind them who want to get past.
The people (or mob) who block an aisle at the store or event, and won’t move because they’re conducting important business on the spot and can’t be bothered. The business is typically a riveting story about someone’s neighbors’ cousin’s dog having puppies.
[/sidebar pits]
related to vunderbob and Liberal’s sidebars:
People in the office who hold little inpromptu meeting in the walkways/aisles instead of USING THE FRIGGIN’ MEETING ROOMS THAT WERE CONSTRUCTED FOR THIS VERY PURPOSE!
I just glare and tilt the closest shoulder slightly towards the other person, gives better leverage so you don’t get knocked back when the offender doesn’t yield.
What I can’t understand is the people who think that if there’s X people walking up/down a flight of stairs to public transportation, then they have the right of way against people who are actually trying to get onto the train/bus. Fucking hell. That said, depending on the situation, if there’s a huge crush of people walking down the stairs, it means you’ve already missed the train and you may as well wait.
If you head to the side to go around them, they’ll edge you against a storefront or the curb. Make them be the ones to move to the edges. My all-time peeve is while it’s raining and a gaggle of umbrelladactyls approaches paying no attention to my attempt to go against the flow. I invariably bring both arms up in front of my face to protect my eyes and plow forward. Why I should have to do this is beyond me, but people are just plain fucking stoopid.
This reminds me of when I was at target recently. Two younger ladies are walking behind their cart. Walking, nay crawling. 90 year old grandmothers with broken hips can walk faster than these two dolts. I’m on lunch break, and they are holding up several people behind them. The exit in this target was narrow, so they felt it was in everyones best interest to take their fuckin time. I blast threw the crowd because I’m pissed. By the time I get up to them to pass, they are about 3 feet away from the metal detector/anti theft things. There’s no way I’m gonna be able to squeeze past them and the sensors but I try anyways. I assumed they would move their cart out of the way a little as I try to pass, but No. So I did the next thing possible, I take their cart by the front and jam it into the wall so I can get by. When I got outside, I couldn’t stop laughing. So not me, I’m a very nice person, but for some reason I found it hilarious.