When a stranger stops you and asks for directions, do you generally:
- give them the shortest, most efficient route
or
- give them a route that is simplest to follow
assuming they are different, of course.
I give the route that has the fewest number of turns.
I go with the easiest route to follow.
I also go easiest. I’ll tell them something like “there is a shorter way, but it’s more complicated.”
I ask which they want. “Do you know the area? Do you have a pen? There’s the easy way or the quick way, which would you like?”
I’ll almost always do the easiest route, unless the shortest one is much shorter, isn’t much more complicated, or the person knows the area.
Usually, though, when someone asks for directions, they’re either looking for something highly specific, at which point the directions probably will be a little complicated, or something generic, like a paricular road, at which point it’s best just to make sure they get there, particularly since your “short cut” may not really be all the meaningful or even counterproductive.
Living in NJ, I give them the easiest route.
You have to include the phrases “if you see [thing] then you’ve gone too far” and “You can’t miss it.”
Depends on my assessment of the direction-following skills of the stranger.
I give them the route that I would follow. If I can find it, anyone can.
Regards,
Shodan
The one with only three Route 10 jughandles. Grr.
Simplest route usually. But it also depends on how close they are to their destination. If it involves more than four steps, I have doubts in their ability to remember directions unless they have a map. This is usually confirmed by their glazed over look after giving directions with more than four plus steps.
“Turn left where the gas station used to be.”
The route easiest to explain, with the clearest landmarks. Too many short cuts become long cuts if you miss the right turn.
Sometimes one, sometimes the other. There are some short, efficient routes around here that involve some very nasty, complicated, quirky one-way intersections. There are other short, efficient routes that go through high-crime areas. So, sometimes, I fall back to the “easier to follow” route, sometimes to the “short, efficient” route, and sometimes to the safest route.
There isn’t any single rule, nor even a default rule.
Generally, I give them the easiest. Most of the time, there’s not that much difference between the simplest and the shortest routes.
As a walking mailman I used to be asked directions a lot. I always gave the simplest route, assuming the asker had no knowledge of the area or they wouldn’t be asking. I also had them repeat what I’d told them to be sure they really heard my instructions.
The most aggravating part was the number of times I’d tell someone to 'Go to the stop sign and turn left", then see them turn right. I knew they were cussing me for misleading them.
The last time somebody stopped and asked they were looking for a town 30 miles away in the other direction. They were currently going away from it. They got the simpleton directions to basically turn around and take a highway to that town. Yet it took them almost 5 minutes to understand their current direction would just take them farther away from that town and they couldn’t get there from here going down the road they were on.
I try to include easy-to-find landmarks: “Go straight under the freeway overpass and turn right at the civic center. Look for the flags. Now, you are going north, past the used car place that sells collector cars from the fifties. Go under the freeway again; yes, it’s the same freeway, past the flood control channel and the Quizno’s. Look for the big IKEA sign, and turn right just past that. It should take you about four minutes, depending on signals. Good luck!”
I refer them to the reception desk, or if not at work and asked for road directions, explain that I haven’t the goddamndest idea.
For some reason, I must look like I know where things are. This is hardly ever true.