People on the pavement who are so engrossed in their telephone conversation that they forget where they are. They might be looking up at the sky or down at their feet, stop suddenly for no apparent reason. Take a step backwards. Gesture with their free arm and turn around 270 degrees. Take two steps forward.
Grrr. I have to imagine they are receiving news that their children have been killed. I stops me from smashing straight into them.
That would be fantastic! 
You and me both, baby. For some unknown reason, the people in my neighbourhood also like to BIKE on the sidewalks, as well as all the other crap - not only do I have to do all the dodging and weaving of the clueless, but I have to watch out for being injured by a bike where it doesn’t belong, too.
It is surprising; I think it must be the same mindset that makes people think that they can park in no parking zones, park across three spaces, screech on their cellphones in public, etc. - just no consideration for other people, or how their actions affect other people.
I think I forgot to post about the woman walking two dogs towards me the other day - they were on the extensible leashes, and I assumed she was going to pull her dogs in so I wouldn’t have to walk 20 feet around them. Once again, my assumption was incorrect, and I ended up tangled up in her dog leash. Sheesh.
Oh come on, Dan’l could not only tell you* that*, but who they were talking to by their trail.
Otherwise, you’re spot on.
I just find it really hard to sympathize with all the energy so many of you folks put into hating other people in the world around you. And it’s always the same litany of complaints:
Stopping on the other side of the door
Stopping at the top of an escalator
Not being aware that people are behind them who want to walk fast
And so on. And the same in the driving threads.
What a bunch of whining gits. Take a breath and get a life, for og’s sake, and stop focusing so much of your energy on this stuff.
I really need to stay out of the pit any more, the pissy negativity is just too toxic. And no pits of substance any more. Bleah!
Roddy
Yeah, well we hate you back, ya cloth-eared bint.*
*I don’t know what that means, but I heard it in a Fawlty Towers bit and thought it sounded cool.
If you’re not part of the solution, you’re part of the problem.
You do realize that when that happens, there is nowhere for the people behind them to go right?
Who is “focusing so much of [their] energy” on this? This is a thread on a message board where people talk about something that annoys them.
Me too, and me too.
Although the other day when I was thinking about this - and thinking about the general category of Annoying Things Other People Do That Seem Obviously Stupid To Me, it dawned on me:
As a fast walker, I seldom need to be very aware of people trying to overtake me (because they’re not) - and it’s this, rather than some enlightened state of local awareness* that is at the root of my frustrated feelings - these people are not necessarily less aware of potential overtakers than me - they’re just slow enough to need to be overtaken more than me.
*I mean, I am hopefully at the high end of the scale of awareness of surroundings, but that’s not the key factor at play here, I feel.
Worse is people who stop or wait in doorways. Everyone should be aware of that one, because it’s just a dumb thing to do at any time.
God, I hate this so much.
May I add people walking backwards?
Even if it’s only a few steps, it’s just so insanely stupid to do in a crowded place that it blows my mind.
Umm, hello - you can’t see where you’re going! What the fuck is wrong with you?
And just for fun, here’s a story. I was in Paris last August, which I loved - grat city, people were super nice, etc., etc.
A girl and her friend are walking two abreast, alking to one another, walkign towards me on the sidewalk. I am al the way to the right of the sidewalk - they are occupying the whole thing. We keep walking towards one another and they don’t move at all. my only option is to either try to tip-toe in between them, or walk out into traffic. So instead I just plow right into one of the girls - she couldn’t have weighed more than 110 lbs, and I’m about 225. She seemed quite unpleased about the whole thing.
My question is, did you really think I should have to walk in traffic, or did you think you’d come out on the positive end of a collision with a person twice your size?
That’s because it’s always the same shit every day.
Promises promises. But please, on your way out, don’t block the door.
No one asked for your damn sympathy, so why don’t you just butt out and leave us to our complaining? There’s the door, don’t let it hit you in the ass on the way out. AND DON’T STOP ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE DOOR!
tdn - great minds think alike. and so do ours!
There is another option. Stop walking, and stare at them, like you have something to say. Smile. When they stop (and they probably will), say excuse me and wait for them to make a hole. It works pretty well!
I don’t know - that sounds like a lot of work, but I would certainly enjoy seeing someone do it.
That clearly is some people’s expectation. It is your fault for not recognizing that they are of royal birth.
Then there are the occasional sociopathic types who play “Sidewalk Chicken”. It is apparently some sort of victory if they can intimidate a pedestrian enough to step into the road.
My husband practically froths at the mouth every time he gets behind the wheel of a car. I was talking to him about it one day because I don’t understand why he gets so pissed off at people driving in front of him and he said, “You know, it’s like you feel when you’re walking behind someone.”
OH. Now I get it!
When I was a kid, we’d go to the indoor roller rink, and I’d shuffle around so slow and clumsy on my skates. There were often times when I’d be suddenly grabbed from behind and flown around the rink in the grip of a stranger who had opted to pick me up rather than run me over. Man, I wish I was big enough to grab up some of these hall wanderers!
Nobody’s ‘focusing a lot of energy’ into this. Focusing implies people are intentionally getting annoyed. But being forced to walk very slowly is physically irritating if you’re used to walking fast, it means your journey is longer than necessary (it can triple the time it takes to get from one place to another in some city centres), and it’s unpleasant seeing people who clearly do not give a shit about the rest of the world.
And most people don’t have any choice but to live with this every day. I doubt they’re screaming with rage every time it happens.
You, OTOH, did open this thread and focus your energy on whining about the people here…
Yeah, I’m not sure if some people realize that some other people walk everywhere. I walk to work every day, to the grocery store, to the bank, etc. All of life’s normal chores are done on foot by some people (people who live in a city center) - and it’s something that happens a few times a day, every day, for years and years and years. So it’s kind of hard not to notice. Considering that this thread is the first time I can ever really recall discussing it, I’m not sure I would call that an inordinate amount of focus on the topic.
It’s actually quite amusing, and gets them to pay a little more attention on what they’re doing. They might even smile and apologize. It’s much better than having an actual collision.
This is why I drive my SUV on the sidewalk… I can text and drive at MY pace. Fuckers BETTER get out of the way.