This one drive me nuts. While the 90%er problem is somewhat irritating in a “what do I do and still remain a reasonably polite person” kind of way, I don’t mind slipping into high gear and around these folks with a polite “scuse me” too much.
But, those Veerers just drive me crazy. You’re walking toward someone who is also walking toward you, and for some inexplicable and EXTREMELY annoying reason they decide to veer directly across you path when???
Not several feet before they reach you, not several feet after you’ve passed them…
Oh no, of COURSE not, they are so in their own little world’s that they veer directly INTO YOU. Unless of course you manage to come to a screeching halt and back up quickly enough to avoid it.
Something which is nearly impossible for me to do, and very painful to attempt to boot thanks to the now year and a half old injury in my right lower leg. And I swear, even if you try to anticipate them and veer way before you get to them, or try to swing out so as to veer after they’ve gone by, it doesn’t matter!!!
It’s as if they’re heat seeking missiles or something, only they’re other pedestrian seeking missiles. Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!
Hell yeah. Especially when they are young women late at night whom I just know I’m going to frighten when I come up behind them. If you feel vulnerable walking alone at night, please a) keep to one side so big, ugly guys like me (who know how you are going to react) can walk past you wide, and b) look behind you sometimes (I have sometimes scared women as I’ve come past them suddenly, despite having been behind them for five blocks).
Are you saying “erm” (which I guess is some bizarre code for “um”) because you find it unbelievable that anyone has ever been approached for sex in a men’s room? I hate to burst your bubble, but it may have happened once or so in the history of the world.
This is one time when I have to chime in with the opposition.
What’s your fucking hurry?
I can see arguing for some passing room, nobody’s got the right to the whole lane. But there are a million reasons why someone might not be in a rush. Last year I was pregnant and miserable, and not able to do anything quickly. It’s awful to be in the grocery store and have these 99-yr-old little scrunched up people flying past you on the way to the checkout lane.
And I hate it when people race you from the parking lot to the front door of an establishment. Tacky.
I can offer no advice for how to deal with the 90%ers, but I’ve developed a sound technique to deal with the <40%ers. After minutes of frustratingly trying not to step on their heels, I just stop walking altogether. I stand perfectly still (trust me, they’re not going to open up any appreciable gap), put my hands on my hips, glare at the backs of their heads, and think angry thoughts. As if by magic, they read my mind.They stop, turn around, get a sheepish grin, offer an apology, and let me pass. I smile back as if all is forgiven, then pass.
The OP was about that unusual, weirdly, uncomfortable situation of walking just barely faster than the person in front you and trying to make the decision of passing them as you creep up on them from the back.
If you never walk anywhere, or if you walk slow, you have probably never found yourself in the OPs situation.
It’s not about being in a hurry, but my natural walking speed is fairly fast, and I usually pass quite a few people on my way to school, not because I’m in a hurry (They’re usually students too, so if they’re not late I’m not either) but because its uncomfortable and annoying to be forced to walk slower than you normally would. I also think that there’s some natural force inborn in people that they hate being behind someone else, even if that someone is going just slightly slower than they would if the way was clear.
And as Trunk said, it’s not about the people who walk slow, it’s about the weird position you end up in.
I really think that “the opposition” needs to lighten the fuck up.
No, it’s not the end of the world. It’s not like you found out that your neighbor’s husband was looking at child porn on your computer. It’s not like Bush stole the election. It’s not like you were attacked in the middle of the night by a blimp. It’s a little thing. A little, yet highly annoying thing. Last time I heard, we were allowed to Pit little annoying things.
I don’t think the OP was taking itself terribly seriously. Why are you?
I wasn’t typing with venom; sorry if it seemed that way.
Well, okay. Actually in my little corner of the world, there are an awful lot of people who behave as if they’re the Most Important Person Ever & everybody had better keep out of their way. They do genuinely get on my nerves. One of them just about ran me off the road the other day.
But you’re correct, that’s not what the OP was saying. My bad.
And sorry that seemed directed solely at you. It wasn’t. And yes, I know there are some rude people whose way you just don’t want to be in.
I just get a little fed up when some innocent OP comes in and posts something like “I just ate the grossest hot dog” and some nitwit answers by accusing him cruelty to dogs and threatens to call the ASPCA on him. Some people just don’t know when an OP is posting partially tongue-in-cheek and they take it way too seriously. This thread is teetering on the edge.
“Erm” is not equivelent to “um”, it’s more of a humourous embarrassed “um”.
I don’t doubt that it happens to people but it’s never happened to me and I’d be embarrassed/amused if it did. It was just a throw away remark that probably got lost in the translation.
Not tacky. COOOOOOLD. I frequently hit high speed on the way to the front door of an establishment, I didn’t used to, but in my experience those “90%ers” seemed to always be the ones who’d stand there chatting and lollygagging in the doorway while others were left standing behind them, freezing and waiting for a break in their OH so important gossiping so that they could get into the WARM buidling.
Don’t get me started. We have about a thousand of these fuckers in the compound where I work. They stroll, three abreast, while I’m haulin’ ass trying to make it to a meeting or whatever. La-di-da, la-di-da, strolling, strolling…JUST GET THE FUCK TO ONE SIDE AND GET A CLUE THAT YOU’RE NOT ALONE IN THIS ENORMOUS BUILDING!!!
They also stand IN FRONT OF THE ELEVATOR DOORS and chat. They don’t get on when the doors open…they just stand there blocking access for everyone wanting to get on or off. They need to die. DIE, I tell ya!
