Just a quick question to the OP, do these people respond if you address them with an “excuse me?”
If they don’t I’m with you 100%. If they do I’m afraid my agreement can only go about 80%. Sometimes one does want to walk and converse at the same time, and in groups that’s hard to do if someone is behind the others. But even if that’s the case, I believe that they have an obligation to be aware of other people whom they might be inconveniencing.
Thank you. This is a pet peeve of mine, but I thought I was the only one.
I took my first trip to Wal-Mart last week to buy a new air conditioner. I couldn’t believe how long it took to negotiate the relatively straight line from the entrance to the AC display. Plodding cows, the lot of them!
I encounter them on the local foot/bike path all the time. Fortunately, shouting “On your left!” as I barrel down on them from behind, on my bicycle, usually gets them moving the hell out of my way fairly quickly. I’ve found, however, that there is one universal law when bicycling on this path: slow-moving pedestrians (whether parents with small children spread across the entire width of the path, or dog walkers with a leash stretched across the path) prefer to congregate in those spots where I’d really like to build up a bit of downhill speed and get a run at the next uphill section.
Of course, on the path the one thing worse than slow-moving pedestrians is recreational rollerbladers. Because even with wheels on their feet they don’t move all that fast, and they weave back and forth, back and forth …
They also have other relations. The ones who have these double baby strollers.
They gather in clumps of 3 or more right in the middle of the pavement(sidewalk) and just stand there gabbing away quite oblivious to the fact that there are other people occupying this planet.
“get outta my way you dipsticks”
Twats
The absolute worst is when folks decide that thy’re too lazy to walk after stepping off the walkwakway. I only saw it once in Heathrow airport. It was like watching domines toppling very slowly.
:rolleyes: :smack:
It’s not just a random sometime occurrence. We are talking major pedestrian walk ways in peak hour. Literally thousands of people trying to get from A-B.
In a park, on the weekend, hell, even that place when it’s not peak hour, I would agree with you. But it’s not fair to inconvenience people in peak hour when they’re trying to get to work. By all means, walk and talk, but just be aware of your surroundings.
I do say excuse me quite a lot, but the other day (the day i was irate enough to post the OP) I would have had to have said it to many many many people, not just one or two.
I find that sneezing on the backs of one or more of them both clears the path and my sinuses.
Walkwakway?
Oh, I get it. First you walk. Then you wak 'em out of your way.
I like the way that the people in the OP can walk down an arcade leaving 3/4 of a person gap on either side and between each of the people thus enabling 3 people to effectively block a passageway wide enough for 6 people.
If they are teens they can add further irritation by taking turns to sway toward another group member opening up an inviting gap, that will close as soon as you alter course to take advantage of it. A gap will then open on the other side.
I am also a big fan of the solo performers that I see, generally women, who cleverly walk one way while looking another (often window shopping). As you try to walk around them they gradually veer away from the window into your path. As soon as you attempt to duck back and pass between them and the window, they suddenly spot the Mona Lisa on sale for $100 and dive back toward the shop.
My favorite is the folks who take up more space than they actually take up. I’ve seen this while walking down a sidewalk, a single person (or sometimes two), just gently zig-zags across the entire width of the sidewalk and, seemingly, every time you’re about to time it to pass on the left or right, the sway never feels to turn back into that direction, blocking you.
I have a question, actually.
Since when did a polite “Excuse me” uttered in circumstances such as those described in the OP stop meaning “Get out of my way”?
I’ve noticed a dramatic upswing lately of the number of people who, when confronted with a polite “Excuse me” from behind, will either totally ignore you, turn around and give you the DeathGaze ™ or (and this is my personal favorite) *come to a complete halt * and look totally baffled that someone was speaking to them.
There is also a special toasty warm spot in Hell for people who stand in the precise center of a two-lane escalator and then pretend not to hear people behind them trying to get their attention.
What do you know, I met more than a few of the above-described at the airport this past week.
A busy airport is one of those places where the “obesity epidemic” unflinchingly reveals itself. Given that the Phenomenally Fat tend to a) travel with their also-elephantine relatives, b) take up more space, c) walk very slowly, and d) lumber along in a laterally shuffling waddle that makes their overall “footprint” even bigger, all it takes is a couple of them pulling wheeled carry-ons to effectively blockade a hallway twenty feet wide.
Not to sound insensitive.
I would like to add people (usually woman of a certain age) who when entering a store will stop dead, right in the middle of the single doorway and gaze around dumbly at the wares sold within, oblivious to the 12 odd people also trying to enter the store.
Listen Toots, you’re 68. You’ve seen these nifty sweaters and slacks in Tabi before. Please move into the shop so my mom, I, and the 8 other people behind us can bask in the wonder of the polester elastic waist pants as well, ummm K?
One of the times I experience this most is while running/jogging. Tho we run mostly on the lakefront path, we have to traverse maybe 1/2 mile of sidewalks to get there. Yeah, I understand it is a sideWALK, not a sideRUN, but I assure you, when there is anyone else on the sidewalk, we go single file, using no more than 1 person’s width on whatever side they allow us. And we ALWAYS say “Excuse me,” “On your left,” “Thank you” etc. We regularly encounter them all: folks meandering back and forth; the building exiters who stop and gather; folks who cross a sidewalk without looking left or right; clueless crowds walking up to 6 abreast; the sudden stoppers…
Perhaps the one that impresses me most is when you have a group spread out across the sidewalk coming towards you. They are visible to you from as much as a block away. You move over to the furthest right side of the sidewalk, yet they make NO MOVE to give you room to pass.
In years past I used to be more concerned about this, but I’ve since reformed. Now, I simply say “Excuse me” in a voice clearly audible to my target, giving them plenty of time to react, and pass by. I don’t go out of my way to jostle the person I’m passing, but neither do I go out of my way to avoid contact with them either. Especially fun at the end of a long summer run, when I pretty much slime a mindless cow’s entire side while brushing past.
I am a very fast walker as well and I can only slow my pace a little before I am off rythm. I have had to dothe stop - wait - start again myself many times. It is so irritating that I have studied people and still not still out why they are moving so slow. A shuffler is easy to diagnose but you will occasionally find someone who’s legs are moving roughly normal and they still aren’t getting anywhere. The worst isn’t when those people are in front of you, it is when they are your walking companion. I have had to give up and walk far ahead and then stop and wait. I can’t match that slow of a walking pace with normal walking and I don’t walk to resort to goosestepping or something try try and match pace.
A-men to almost anything here. I’ve got to the stage that when I get on an escalator with some standers blocking it I STOMP STOMP STOMP up or down the stairs towards them. The metal steps really rattle and, absent an iPod, they almost jump to be out of my way, it must feel like a Mack truck tailgating a Mini.
Why do people walk fast then get on an escalator and just stop? If the stairs weren’t moving they’d walk up or down them, why does that change just because the thing is moving? Do they think it’s a funfair ride or something?
I can’t answer for everyone, but I do it because while I can move very well on flat ground, my leg repair (6" plate on one side, 2 bolts on the other) from a bad break, and subsequent knee issues sometimes make stairs painful to navigate.
Downstairs is almost always painful, sometimes upstairs hurts also. I know, I know…someone’s going to say “there’s always an exception post”. Well, I don’t look in the least handicapped, unless I’m wearing shorts and you can see the scars, but a person doesn’t always know what’s “wrong” with the person he/she sees and seems to be doing something stupid or rude regarding moving “out of the way”.
FTR I stay as far to the side of the escalator as possible to stay out of the way of walkers. Though in all of the malls here, as well as most of the airport, there is a set of stairs right in between, the up and down escalators, so walkers aren’t impeded at all.
Other than that, I can totally relate to the “quit walking slowly and several abreast” thing. It’s tourist season now, and downtown sidewalks are a nightmare of tourist gaggles wandering the sidewalks with their noses in maps.
I was going to the store last night and I’d rounded the corner from the parking lot and was heading toward the store just as several women were walking toward me several abreast, the stone wall of the store was at my left, they were approaching my right. The one closest to me rammed me with her bag and never even noticed, just kept her head looking and gabbing at her friends. Sheesh. I swear, I’m going to start carrying a hat pin!
Interesting, that is the issue with (most) snowboarders on the ski slopes.
This is something that frustrates me immensely. It’s even worse up here than it is in London, and that is pretty bad. Although at least around here traffic moves at a decent pace and doesn’t try to stop the “flash git in the Lamborghini” (me) from overtaking.
Hong Kong and Singapore… Efficient walking, escalators that actually move!
At a large local shopping mall here, which just recently closed, one of its steps towards downfall was the seizure of the mall by large gangs of abusive teenagers, who mall security and the police were seemingly unable to do anything about. Eventually, the mall learned that if you let the mall be taken over by 15-20 year-olds who have no money, then everyone who has money…stops coming. Sadly, they didn’t learn this until the mall closed. Anyhow, one of the main aggression tactics used by the teens was to walk 5 or more abreast down the mall, from store front to railing in the center, and shove everyone out of the way. Well, not everyone, they would break to pass around certain folks. To let you know what I mean, when the local news interviewed some of the teens who were occupying the mall, they called the tactic “sweeping out the ghosts.” But no, people on the SDMB will say, there was no racism involved, never in a million years… :rolleyes: