I don’t have enough vitriol about it to Pit myself, but I’m feeling a bit guilty.
I was coming up an escalator from the subway station this morning. There were three or four kids well in front of me who got to the top and then started playing on the escalator – walking down the wrong way and such. Each of these kids was probably between eight and twelve years old. A couple of adults in front of me had to make some awkward maneuvers to get around the kids, who seemed completely uncaring that they were not just being annoying, but definitely getting in the way.
By the time I got up that direction, probably some 30 - 45 seconds after this had started, I made a decision not to go around one of the kids. It would have taken a bit of leap-frogging, but I definitely had room to get around him. Still, I sort of just rammed into him, shoulder to shoulder. I did instinctively reach out and grab him to make sure I didn’t actually make him fall, but I didn’t apologize and didn’t look to see what the reaction was from him or anyone else. I just keep walking.
Kids do stupid things; we were all kids. Even though he was old enough to know better, I really, really didn’t need to do that. I should have said something to him, maybe, but running into him was unjustified. I don’t know what my problem was this morning.
I think the only thing you could have done better is yelled at them first. If they were given the opportunity to get out of your way and didn’t do so, by all means, jostling them a little bit (while making sure they were unharmed) would be pretty well justified.
Or maybe I just like yelling at the kids. “Hey! Get off my lawn, ya punks! Back in my day, we showed some respect for our elders! Don’t make me get my cane, you young whippersnapper!”
There have been many times I have had to refrain from pushing kids in front of the L train. During times like these you just have to flip them the bird.
Don’t beat up on yourself. A kid who wouldn’t listen to his own mom tell him not to play on the escalator is now better educated about public decorum. Getting shouldered aside while playing on an escalator is part of a process called “growing up.” You did fine, especially since you made sure the little stinker didn’t go tumbling.
Don’t feel bad. The kid (hopefully) learned to stay out of the way of others.
I myself fight the urge to clothesline the sk8er punks around my office.
One bit of schadenfreude I once got was as a supermarket cashier. A 7-8 year old kid got into my little cubby hole as I was checking out his moms order. So when I scanned the 50-pound bag of dog food and swung it over to the bagging area, it hit the kid pretty hard. He ran out of there ready to cry but his mom preemptively nagged him for getting in my way. I feel sort of guilty about it now, but certainly not then.
Listen, not a year goes by, not a year, that I don’t hear about some escalator accident involving some bastard kid which could have easily been avoided had some parent - I don’t care which one - but some parent conditioned him to fear and respect that escalator.
Mom of three checking in. Would not have a problem with you doing this to one of my kids, were they foolish enough to be monkeying around on the escalator. Kids screwing around on the escalators is one of my personal peeves.
And yes, I do now feel like a crotchety 75-year-old.
Screw feeling bad. I’ve had young teens deliberately challenge my right to walk on the sidewalk. They see you, make eye contact, then look the other way and keep coming right at you. I have, in the past, dropped a shoulder and knocked them out of the way; 120 pounds is no match for 225 pounds. Smaller kids who are with parents have run into me, stepped on my feet, etc. When that happens, I move them out of the way if they haven’t already bounced off and landed on their asses. If parents can’t control their children, then I will. In the case of older kids, nobody has taught them manners or respect, or they are trying to impress their friends. Not at my expense, nor in my version of reality, I’m afraid.
Hold up, I just re-read this. You are a fully-grown adult male, and this kid was shoulder to shoulder to you?! Shoot, I now fully endorse your ramming the kid! What if you were a little old lady who couldn’t get around these kids? She would have gotten knocked over easily.
Shoot, we should just knock over kids preemptively! C’mon, let’s go tween tipping! Who’s with me?!
Yeah, don’t feel bad, someone has to tell them to get a bloody move on. I recall catching the public train to and from school last year, so my final year, and a group of boys were mucking around, trying to keep the doors open. But they were blocking entrance into the carriage. It’s only myself and a friend these boys were probably about 12 or so. Old enough to bloody know better!
I’m a girl. I’m a relatively broad shouldered, five foot eight slender girl. I waited thirty seconds before bellowing ‘MOVE!’ in my ‘deep’ voice. While a few of them did the ‘ooooh’ thing, they all moved when I stepped up into the carriage.
