# There's clueless, then there's "how do you remember how to breathe" clueless **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 28, 2024, 8:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-clueless-then-theres-how-do-you-remember-how-to-breathe-clueless/1007938 "2024-09-28T08:44:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2024, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-clueless-then-theres-how-do-you-remember-how-to-breathe-clueless/1007938/81 "2024-09-29T02:27:24Z")
> [@chela](#): > > Come as you are > Drive yourself > I am not your co pilot > YmmV Each of those phrases separately – no problem. All of them together, as an explanation of earlier word salad: more word salad. > [@chela](#): > > How do you proceed moving forward into a > parking space with cars suvs or trucks on both sides. More easily than moving backward into it. Or out of it. ---
**Author:** ![Dandan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a87d85/32.png) [@Dandan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dandan)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2024, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-clueless-then-theres-how-do-you-remember-how-to-breathe-clueless/1007938/82 "2024-09-29T02:40:43Z")
A knock on the door after dark, and an exhausted-looking guy explaining that he was moving in next door, and could I help him get the last thing, a chest of drawers, to the second floor. It was a solid maple monster, and when I nudged it with my hand it felt like it was full of concrete underwear. After I pulled out the (fully loaded) drawers we easily got the carcase up the stairs. I left the drawers for him to carry. This might have been a case of a long, brutal day, rather than an actual “duh”. Dan ---
**Author:** ![Dandan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a87d85/32.png) [@Dandan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dandan)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2024, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-clueless-then-theres-how-do-you-remember-how-to-breathe-clueless/1007938/83 "2024-09-29T02:48:53Z")
Talk about a long, brutal day…I have no idea how this went in twice. Doesn’t make it twice as interesting. Sorry, folks. Dan ---
**Author:** ![chela](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chela/32/21582_2.png) [@chela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chela)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2024, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-clueless-then-theres-how-do-you-remember-how-to-breathe-clueless/1007938/84 "2024-09-29T03:15:19Z")
Is there a reason you’re feeling that way?your protestations leave me clueless as to what yer on abut ---
**Author:** ![Lucas\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucas_jackson/32/303_2.png) [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2024, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-clueless-then-theres-how-do-you-remember-how-to-breathe-clueless/1007938/85 "2024-09-29T04:20:58Z")
> [@TXRebel](#): > > I agree. I always just say “Occupied” Done. No more drama. I prefer not to be disturbed and don’t like announcing Im in there, but it certainly beats the heck out listening to them rattle the door for the next 15 mins. I always just say, “Ocupado” (in an obvious American accent) to at least add a little levity to the awkward situation. ---
**Author:** ![ASL\_v2.0](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asl_v2.0/32/3525_2.png) [@ASL\_v2.0](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ASL_v2.0)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2024, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-clueless-then-theres-how-do-you-remember-how-to-breathe-clueless/1007938/86 "2024-09-29T04:30:04Z")
I knew, if you’re shy, you can always just clear your throat or make a show of taring away some toilet paper. Really, anything but dead silence ought to do. ---
**Author:** ![Seanette](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/seanette/32/9139_2.png) [@Seanette](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Seanette)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2024, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-clueless-then-theres-how-do-you-remember-how-to-breathe-clueless/1007938/87 "2024-09-29T04:32:50Z")
> [@Dandan](#): > > A knock on the door after dark, and an exhausted-looking guy explaining that he was moving in next door, and could I help him get the last thing, a chest of drawers, to the second floor. It was a solid maple monster, and when I nudged it with my hand it felt like it was full of concrete underwear. After I pulled out the (fully loaded) drawers we easily got the carcase up the stairs. I left the drawers for him to carry. > > This might have been a case of a long, brutal day, rather than an actual “duh”. Probably was, based on my memories of my last move :). I was worse the day my husband broke his leg at work. By the time I finally got home for the evening, I’d gotten lost getting out of the hospital complex’s gravity well (probably more than once), almost forgotten items my husband had needed to have delivered to him, gotten baffled by opening a door, and had been convinced my car had conked out when I finished fueling, released the parking brake, put the car (which was in accessory at the time) in Drive, and it didn’t move. Come to find out starting the engine really does help a lot. ---
**Author:** ![Asuka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@Asuka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asuka)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2024, 4:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-clueless-then-theres-how-do-you-remember-how-to-breathe-clueless/1007938/88 "2024-09-29T04:37:57Z")
I also don’t say anything on the toilet because I found then the person on the other side of the door decides they REALLY want to start an argument with you. “Occupied!” “WHEN ARE YOU GOING TO GET OUT” “Just go to the other one!” "I NEED TO USE THE RESTROOM I CANT WAIT " “It’s 10 feet away to walk!” “I REALLY NEED TO PEE” ---
**Author:** ![Moonrise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moonrise/32/14764_2.png) [@Moonrise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moonrise)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2024, 7:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-clueless-then-theres-how-do-you-remember-how-to-breathe-clueless/1007938/89 "2024-09-29T07:35:13Z")
> [@Cheesesteak](#): > > At least give us an “ahem” if you don’t want to embarrass yourself by speaking a couple of actual words. > [@Stratocaster](#): > > Cough, for Pete’s sake I did. Sorry I didn’t mention it in the already long OP. Well, at least, it allowed some posters to unload their snarky offerings. I guess they feel relieved. Talk about shitting one’s pants… > [@Si\_Amigo](#): > > Since you didn’t answer he may have thought that someone was in there doing drugs. Erm, not where I work. ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2024, 12:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-clueless-then-theres-how-do-you-remember-how-to-breathe-clueless/1007938/90 "2024-09-29T12:00:35Z")
> [@Asuka](#): > > I also don’t say anything on the toilet because I found then the person on the other side of the door decides they REALLY want to start an argument with you. This actually happened to you? More than once? > [@Moonrise](#): > > I did. Sorry I didn’t mention it in the already long OP. Yeah, you leave out a very significant fact that completely changes the interaction, and we merit criticism for not understanding that? 🙄 ---
**Author:** ![Jaycat.again](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jaycat.again/32/11525_2.png) [@Jaycat.again](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jaycat.again)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2024, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-clueless-then-theres-how-do-you-remember-how-to-breathe-clueless/1007938/91 "2024-09-29T13:34:23Z")
> [@Dinsdale](#): > > As I was leaving this morning, an old guy entered driving a pretty old Mercedes (I dunno, maybe 80s?) I was chatting with a friend, and we watched him pull in and back out and pull in again at least 6-8 times. Then he sat there for a minute or so, and pulled in/out several more times. Then he got out of his car and started walking away, only to get back in and pull out.in 5-6 more times. That’s not clueless, that’s OCD. ---
**Author:** ![Asuka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@Asuka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asuka)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2024, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-clueless-then-theres-how-do-you-remember-how-to-breathe-clueless/1007938/92 "2024-09-29T15:03:21Z")
Yes I work a Union job so everybody is rushing to the nearest restroom to text at all times. ---
**Author:** ![racer72](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/racer72/32/3075_2.png) [@racer72](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/racer72)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2024, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-clueless-then-theres-how-do-you-remember-how-to-breathe-clueless/1007938/93 "2024-09-29T15:39:06Z")
> [@EddyTeddyFreddy](#): > > A minor example, but: In a grocery store parking lot. As I pulled into a space i saw a woman getting into a car. Ahead of her the facing space was empty and she could easily have driven through it to leave. > > She backed out. The grocery store I shop at has angled parking spaces. Pulling forward causes you to go against the grain. It aggravates me to have to make room for bozos driving the wrong way in the parking lot. The parking lot has lots of arrows painted on the asphalt pointing in the direction, apparently they are invisible to lots of people. ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2024, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-clueless-then-theres-how-do-you-remember-how-to-breathe-clueless/1007938/94 "2024-09-29T15:56:28Z")
> [@Asuka](#): > > I also don’t say anything on the toilet because I found then the person on the other side of the door decides they REALLY want to start an argument with you. I’m 73. In all of my life, I’ve never had this happen. Have you had it happen more than once? And how is the argument worse than having them keep trying to batter down the door, and possibly getting management to insist? > [@racer72](#): > > The grocery store I shop at has angled parking spaces. Pulling forward causes you to go against the grain. It aggravates me to have to make room for bozos driving the wrong way in the parking lot. The parking lot has lots of arrows painted on the asphalt pointing in the direction, apparently they are invisible to lots of people. Is that a common setup in your area? If not, I’m not surprised that many people want to, and do, treat that store parking lot like every other store parking lot they ordinarily deal with. Their bright idea for how to improve traffic flow in their lot (I presume that’s the idea) is actually impeding it, if only by requiring many people to start off driving in the wrong direction (towards the store instead of towards the exit) when leaving. Slanted parking spaces make sense on a street wide enough for them, because they discourage people from backing out across two lanes or backing into one of them headed in the wrong direction for the lane – and there are other reasons for the lane they’re backing into to go in a specific direction. I don’t see how they make sense in a parking lot; unless for some reason it’s got unusually narrow lanes between the parking spots. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Borgia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/larry_borgia/32/156_2.png) [@Larry\_Borgia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Borgia)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2024, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-clueless-then-theres-how-do-you-remember-how-to-breathe-clueless/1007938/95 "2024-09-29T16:17:23Z")
Wait, are you saying that even after you clearly and audibly let the dude know the stall was occupied, he still tried to get in? At a workplace, not a nightclub? I’m sorry, I’m having a hard time believing this. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2024, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-clueless-then-theres-how-do-you-remember-how-to-breathe-clueless/1007938/96 "2024-09-29T16:36:37Z")
> [@thorny\_locust](#): > > Is that a common setup in your area? > … > I don’t see how they make sense in a parking lot Angled parking spaces in parking lots are very common in my area. They make it slightly easier to pull into and out of parking spaces, and they make it obvious which way traffic is supposed to go down each aisle of the lot. ---
**Author:** ![doreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/858c86/32.png) [@doreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doreen)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2024, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-clueless-then-theres-how-do-you-remember-how-to-breathe-clueless/1007938/97 "2024-09-29T16:37:32Z")
> [@thorny\_locust](#): > > I don’t see how they make sense in a parking lot; unless for some reason it’s got unusually narrow lanes between the parking spots. About half the lots where I live have angled parking and half don’t. It’s supposedly easier to pull in or out with angled spaces but that’s not the reason. It’s because you can have narrower aisles. I never see angled parking in giant Walmart like parking lots - it’s always much smaller parking lots where they can fit four rows of angled parking or two rows of straight. Same reason some streets have angled parking rather than parallel. ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2024, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-clueless-then-theres-how-do-you-remember-how-to-breathe-clueless/1007938/98 "2024-09-29T16:43:32Z")
> [@doreen](#): > > It’s because you can have narrower aisles. Ah. That makes sense. It doesn’t seem to have occured to the one parking lot I can think of around here that could really use a way to fit more parking spaces in a limited overall space, though. The only angled ones I can think of around here are in a wide downtown street where they’ve probably been that way for the last century or so. ---
**Author:** ![EddyTeddyFreddy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eddyteddyfreddy/32/18796_2.png) [@EddyTeddyFreddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EddyTeddyFreddy)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2024, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-clueless-then-theres-how-do-you-remember-how-to-breathe-clueless/1007938/99 "2024-09-29T17:09:18Z")
> [@racer72](#): > > The grocery store I shop at has angled parking spaces. Pulling forward causes you to go against the grain. Yes, that would be ridiculous. i was talking about spaces that face each other directly, which is how most parking lots in my area are laid out. ---
**Author:** ![Lucas\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucas_jackson/32/303_2.png) [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2024, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-clueless-then-theres-how-do-you-remember-how-to-breathe-clueless/1007938/100 "2024-09-29T19:00:47Z")
> [@Asuka](#): > > I also don’t say anything on the toilet because I found then the person on the other side of the door decides they REALLY want to start an argument with you. I’m 69 and have used a lot of public toilets and never had this happen. Though if someone tried, I think I could think of something to say that would _not_ lead to a prolonged argument. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-clueless-then-theres-how-do-you-remember-how-to-breathe-clueless/1007938.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-clueless-then-theres-how-do-you-remember-how-to-breathe-clueless/1007938.md?page=6)