The top of an escalator in Penn Station during rush hour is not the place to take your dear, sweet time setting down your rolling suitcase, turning it 180 degrees so the wheels are facing the right way, extending the plastic handle, etc. Nor is it the place to cast dirty looks at me when the escalator pushes me into your posterior. I was not trying to butt-rape you. Nor were the half-dozen people who stumbled over me when you inconsiderately stopped at the top of the escalator and caused a pileup.
All of this could have been prevented if you had simply listened to the constantly-repeating audio warnings that remind you to “exit promptly upon reaching the landing.” But hey, they’ve only been playing on a continual basis for the past several years. Why start listening to them now?
Maybe this wasn’t the case for you, but that tactic is a favorite of pickpockets. One will stop, or slow down at the top or bottom of an escalator, and when the person directly behind them is distracted/bothered/annoyed and trying to maneuver around, the other team member will “accidently” bump into that person, grabbing a wallet or what have you.
See, I think the problem was that you didn’t say, “Hey, get out of the fuckin’ way you fuckin’ idiot!” Then she would’ve been too embarassed to shoot you that dirty look. Or maybe not. Some people are just fuckin’ clueless. But at least by giving her some verbal advice, she would have known why she was being pushed out of the way (not just by you, but also by the people behind you) like a sack of potatoes.
Still got the wallet. As a New Yorker, it’s reflex for my hand to immediately cover the pocket my wallet’s in whenever I bump into someone.
As for swearing at the silly person, I didn’t even have time. I was two steps behind her on the escalator, and before I knew it, I was on top of her and falling over her suitcase.
This wasn’t as bad as the last couple times this has happened. I just can’t believe people still do it, considering the long ride up the escalator is punctuated every few seconds by a recorded voice telling everyone to exit the landing promptly.
Well, that and, y’know, don’t fucking stop at the top of a fucking escalator…? I’d say that people never cease to amaze me, except that it keeps getting harder and harder for me to be surprised.
Anybody I catch doing that is going to get quite an earful. Everyday stupidity I can ignore, but a stunt like that could end up with somebody seriously injured.
That’s one possibility - another is a complete lack of thought at all. Just…no thought about what they’re doing and why they shouldn’t do it. I’m pretty sure these are the same people that stand in front of a door, watch me walk up to the door, and still make me ask them to move aside so I can use the door.
Regrettably, my center of gravity is quite high with my 6’4" height and this annoying spare tire around my waist.
As a sort-of-related aside, I wonder if anyone has experimented with escalators that automatically stop or slow down once they sense a pileup on the landing. Hmmm… (Calls intellectual property lawyers)
[QUOTE=THesposAs a sort-of-related aside, I wonder if anyone has experimented with escalators that automatically stop or slow down once they sense a pileup on the landing. Hmmm… (Calls intellectual property lawyers)[/QUOTE]
Mercedes story! So, the Germans came up with this neat Anti-Tailgating device. Very handy for Germans. When you got too close for safe braking, it’d slow you down a bit.
Then they brought it to New York, tried it out. Car would back to a safe distance, someone would cut in, car would slow down further, someone would cut in… wound up with the car slowed to all but a stop on the middle of the highway.
Some things, they just don’t work. Hunch down, and keep moving. Mass matters.
I did exactly that to someone two days ago at the top of an escalator. I’m walking up on the left side coming off the BART paltform, and Stereotypically Short Stupid Asian Woman is standing on the right side. We arrive at the top of the escalator at more or less the same time, and SSSAW quickly slides to the left side of the escalator, right in front of me. Lucky for me she was small, lightweight and easy to dislodge. Not only did I dislodge her out of my way, but out of one of her shoes.
What is with people? At 6’1" I do have a certain presence. I also have a consderable amount of mass that doesn’t exactly stop on a dime. I’ve just got to stop wearing that invisibility cloak.
Las Vegas is the world’s capital for escalator-stoppers. Bring in a bunch of Okies who haven’t seen a two story building or a neon light and just watch the pileups.
I once was in fear of my life at the Luxor until they actually shut down the escalator. People were screaming in fear.
I have people do that to me all the time at work. And not only am I 6’ 3", 260 pounds, I am driving a 3 1/2 ton fork lift. And when I manage to avoid them after they walk into the aisle without looking, they yell at me for not watching where I am going.
