Me too. The idea that a stationary escalator is too dangerous to walk down is utterly ridiculous.
Because you are more important than they. How dare they slow you down a few seconds!
I am still baffled at why the LA subway system removed the signs that used to tell people (in remarkably unfunny cartoon messages) that they should stand to the right and walk to the left. Now, I have nothing relevant to back me up when I want to bitch at the one person who inevitably stands on the left, RIGHT NEXT to someone properly standing on the right, so that no one can get by them.
I will say, though, that I’ve always taken this rule to apply to commuter-type situations such as at the train station, subway station or airport. I don’t really feel the rule applies in a mall, nor do I usually feel the desire to walk past people on the escalator at the mall. <shrug>
Sigh.
Please explain to me exactly how I’m inconveniencing people by asking them to take a small step to their right.
Did you?
But thanks for the link, it was highly amusing. My favorite part was this little bit:
“Care must be taken to promptly and firmly place your foot in the middle of a moving step while continuing to walk at a normal pace. <snip> If you miss the center of a stair - don’t panic - simply adjust your feet.”
I picture someone screaming “I missed the stair center! Call 911! Call 911!”. Man, I crack myself up.
Sure, after you explain why your life is ruined if someone is in front of you and slows you a few seconds.
Oooh, I found this on one of the PDFs from that site:
Sir! Sir! Can we have “Don’t window-shop while riding”, please?
It isn’t. I am, however, inconvenienced.
Let’s try this instead. Please explain to me how *your * right to inconvenience me by standing on the left side of the escalator (rudely and incorrectly, I might add) supersedes my right to inconvenience you by politely asking you to take a small step to your right?
What you have here is a situation where one person wants a certain thing – to keep walking on an escalator. It doesn’t matter what his motives are.
The other person can choose to inconvenience that person, or not inconvenience that person, at no cost to themselves.
And, the only argument for your politeness in the situation is, “we’re living in a society here!”
No one’s asking you to swing a leg over the rail to get out of the way. No one is asking you to keep walking yourself. Just keep to the fucking right.
depends on the size of the escalator, IMHO. the people mover type of thing in airports are designed for ‘lanes’. IME, the escalators at malls aren’t. One person, maybe holding onto a toddlers hand, but defniately not two people sqeezing by.
and the length of an escaltor ride is pretty inconsequential, so while I think the idiot who offered to ‘take it outside’ is being an idiot, I’m not seeing it as a big deal. obviously other’s MV.
OP was the rude one. He wanted to inconvenience someone else, and then got all pissy when his request was denied. Nevermind the safety issues involved in passing people on escalators. Further, he was offered the opportunity to resolve matters outside and declined. Now he vents his righteous fury on a messageboard. Yawn.
Really? Is taking a step to the side an inconvenience?
The “safety issues involved in passing people on escalators”? Man oh man. I’ve been walking up and down escalators in busy rush hours for well-nigh all my adult life, and I hain’t seen an accident yet!
Again, to echo several others: assuming that the escalator is, in fact, wide enough to accommodate two lanes, how does one person’s right to stand right smack in the middle of both trump my right to (with all politeness) ask them to step aside so I can get where I’m going at my chosen pace? Why do you think they make them that wide, anyway?
I wonder how neatly the two sides of this debate would cleave into “posters who spend significant time using trains, subways, and Metros” and “posters who don’t.”
My favorites are the people (Usually older couples and teenage girls) who step off the escalator at the top (or bottom) then freeze trying to decide which way to go.
Then they get upset when you barge into them.
and I stated that IME, escalators at malls aren’t. things may have changed.
Yeah, that’s perfectly fair. As I allude to above, my experience is predominantly with public transit. The escalators in the department stores 'round here are often narrow enough for only one, and on those I patiently wait my perambulatory turn.
The OP, however, seems to suggest that this was a two-laner.
It may not be known etiquette, but I know I’ve seen those signs posted around here, both in malls and subway stations. “Walk left, stand right”. These rules are obviously hard to enforce, and I think if some security guard actually did manage to catch you in the act of (gasp!) violating this standard, then all you’d get is a friendly reminder.
Having said that, our society has a concept called “Common fucking Courtesy” where you willingly obey these little rules to make life a little easier for everyone. There is no law against talking very loudly on a cellphone in public, but the CFC standard asks that you refrain. If you want to move about in our public spaces and use the escalators, please try to observe the CFC rules. Thank you.
Shayna:
Also, I must ask: “trying to balance”? Is there a difficulty inherent in the use of escalators of which I was previously unaware? Am I just an escalator savant, riding (and gasp walking!) from top to bottom and bottom to top with unheard-of ease?
Escalators are fucking terrifying. I always have to hold onto the rails on both sides or I feel I’m going to fall right off. And god, I hate it when they *STOP *- just fucking STOP RIGHT THERE when I’m like, halfway between floors. What the hell am I supposed to do then? *It’s like I’m trapped in midair!!! Christ!! * Once, an escalator at the airport got jammed when I was on my way to Concourse B and I was trapped on the fucking thing for three hours and missed my flight. And shit my pants.