# Modern Manners, aka Standing In The Way **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [January 19, 2020, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/modern-manners-aka-standing-in-the-way/846681 "2020-01-19T23:16:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2020, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/modern-manners-aka-standing-in-the-way/846681/101 "2020-01-30T19:19:22Z")
> [@Balthisar](#): > > The behavior described by the OP is common in China. Frustratingly so. Even today my wife – who is Chinese – stopped suddenly outside the Costco exit to put on our daughter’s coat. I had to gently admonish her, as always, to not stop in the flow of traffic and to get the hell out of the way. > > It’s not just escalators and door exits. They freaking do it on the road and expressway. I’m not sure where the idea of this comes from culturally. It has to be something more than selfishness, doesn’t it? I think it’s that people who grow up in very crowded spaces have a _much_ smaller zone of personal space they’re comfortable with. I was at Disneyland with friends years ago. It was an off-day, off-season and not crowded. We were at the Main Street train station waiting in the “holding pen” with an Indian family. We were a party of four, and the family was about six people (mom, dad, kiddies and granny). The holding area was large and could accomodate at least 50 people (probably more). While we were waiting for the train, no one else entered the pen. Granny insisted on standing practically on my feet. She’d occasionally bump me she was standing so close (and the others weren’t far off). It was annoying. But I didn’t make a big deal about it. My guess was they were used to large crowds and always bumping into people, so she didn’t even notice it. It was weird to me, though. ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2020, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/modern-manners-aka-standing-in-the-way/846681/102 "2020-01-30T20:06:47Z")
> [@Infovore](#): > > I only skimmed the thread so forgive me if somebody already said this and I missed it, but the spouse and I have a theory about the people who stop at the ends of stairs/escalators, just inside/outside doorways, or similar spots. We call it the “decision point theory” (his term). These people get to a spot where they have to make a decision about what to do (go forward, go left, go right, etc.) and it just freezes up their mental processors so they stop. > > It’s sort of related to the way a lot of people can’t walk/shop/whatever in any kind of effective manner while talking on a cell phone. Overloaded processor. “Deer in the headlights.” > **[The Twilight Zone (Published 2010)](https://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/30/science/30qna.html)** > > Why do deer get transfixed by car headlights and just stand there in harm’s way? Research suggests that by human standards, they are legally blind. Maybe they need to pause to let their brains adjust. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2020, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/modern-manners-aka-standing-in-the-way/846681/103 "2020-02-04T18:30:04Z")
When was being addicted to your device declared such a disability that it allows those people to take up all the bus’s front seats? Heaven forbid they should use up the 30 seconds of “plurky turkey” time walking back to the sixth front seat. ETA: I used to call these people “plunky monkeys” because they reminded me of monkeys picking off lice. My sister called them turkeys, and the term “plurky turkey” was born. ---
**Author:** ![flatlined](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/eb9ed0/32.png) [@flatlined](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flatlined)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2020, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/modern-manners-aka-standing-in-the-way/846681/104 "2020-02-05T02:37:06Z")
My job often involves me pushing a hand cart loaded with boxes of paper on a regular basis. Because hand carts are hard to drag up stairs, I always use the elevator. There are always people who look stunned when they try rush into the elevator before I have time to get off. Yeah, I’m a small female, easy to shove out of the way. 300 lbs of paper on a cart with locked wheels isn’t nearly so easy to move. Wait until I have cleared the area, and there will be more room for everyone else. I learned while growing up that one should always let the people IN the vehicle out first just because it was common sense. ---
**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2020, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/modern-manners-aka-standing-in-the-way/846681/105 "2020-02-05T03:10:44Z")
Anyone who takes the subway in NYC has run into the most asinine and rage-inducing behavior of the guys (occasionally girls, but it’s almost always guys) who sit on the steps leading up and don’t get up to move as everyone is trying to exit the station. Whoops, that giant bag I was carrying \*accidentally \*smacked the back of your head, so sorry! ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2020, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/modern-manners-aka-standing-in-the-way/846681/106 "2020-02-05T04:53:50Z")
> [@flatlined](#): > > just because it was common sense. Hate to break this to you, but there is no such thing as common sense. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/modern-manners-aka-standing-in-the-way/846681.md?page=5)