Student doing Sociology 101?
Sorry, even in regular traffic, the responsibility lies on the person following. There are a lot of times, even when driving, when a person has to stop suddenly. If a car is following too closely and rams into the person who had to stop, it’s his fault, not the driver who slammed on his brakes for the idiot tourist suddenly dashing into the roadway ahead of him (or whatever).
If the guy had a big load of lumber, the onus was on HIM to be careful with it and not have it practically up the rear-end of his fellow shoppers as he was negotiating the aisles. Particularly since the very nature of places like Lowe’s is that no one has a clue where the thing they need is located, so it’s more common than not for the guy in front of you to suddenly spy it and say “HEY, there it is”.
Lastly, peripheral vision doesn’t give one eyes in the back of one’s head. I’m blessed with an extreme ability to sense those close to me, and I’m one of those who takes extra care regarding personal space, but every now and then, especially if that person or thing is at dead 6 o’clock, I don’t “feel” them there. And if you’re walking down the main aisle with the end butts (or whatever they’re called) right at your side and you stop for what’s on the end cap (that’s it right?) it’s not as if there IS a place to clear a path to.
Examples like this one and the shopping cart ones are why I now use the smallest cart possible or the hand baskets, and when I get to the checkout I pull the cart in behind me after offloading rather than pushing it ahead. Not only does it keep people from crowding in on you as you’re checking out, I saw it as a tip on some identity theft prevention glurge or another as a way to keep people from being close enough to see your credit card number and such.
At a family birthday party once (when I was about 13), a guest of one aunt asked another of my aunts “Are they your grandsons?”. She said “No, they’re my sons” and the woman said “Gee, you must have had kids late!”. Unbelievably rude. The lesson I took from this is never to verbalize a guess at the relationship between adult and child unless you absolutely have to… and I’ve never found it necessary to do so.
The issue is not people who HAVE to stop suddenly, but those that do so without cause, warning or consideration for others. Of course this doesn’t excuse those that DO follow too closely, either in a vehicle or on foot.
Aspiring film maker?
[QUOTE=even sven]
I think for a minute and tell him his best bet is to take BART up to Richmond, which counts as full-blown ghetto.
[/QUOTE]
No guesses. But not all parts of Richmond are ghetto!
I have a WTF moment I live through many times a day. I have unsual hair for a ‘white chick’. Due to a cruel ‘twist’ of genetics, my hair has a very tight, spiral curl. Many strangers a day will comment on my unusual hair, to which I will answer with a simple thank you. More often than you would think, total strangers actually come up and start fingering or playing with my hair! Some have been nice enough to ask first, although its still pretty ballsy. Most just feel like they have the right to start playing in it. It happens in stores, restaraunts, doctors offices, my school, the kids school, EVERYWHERE! When has it ever been acceptable to to come up to a total stranger and just start playing with their hair!
To make it worse, I have a hyperactive neurosensory disorder that just about destroys me when anyone touches me. Its hard enough to overcome with friends and family, but absolute agony with strangers.
Small children are an exception. They can grab it anytime. I have been known to hide surprises in it from time to time for them to try and find.
The very elderly that I sometimes work with are also exempt from WTF.
When I was a smart ass teenage, my parents had a phone number that matched the number of a resort hotel, with the exception of the last digit. You might guess how many times we were called when the person calling wanted the motel. I was at home alone one day when one of these wrong number guys called; I gave him the correct number and within seconds he called back. I gave him the correct number again and within seconds he called again. One more time I gave him the correct number and when he called back the fourth time, I answered, "Good morning, <name of resort hotel> how may I help you? He said something to the effect that the resort hotel needed to change its phone number and after a little back and forth, I made reservations for him and his wife. Served him right and I still get some satisfaction from having done that.
You need to put a pic in the SDMB photo gallery. Right now I’m visualizing a lovely female Sideshow Bob.
We had this issue with a pizza place. The first drunk call got the correct number. On the second call from the same drunk we’d just take the order. No one ever called to ask where their pizza was.
Funny you should mention that. I have often reminded others, and myself, of "Sideshow Bob.
The"lovely in your vision is unfortunately inaccurate. However, it is duly noted and appreciated. One of the many benefits of the internet.
Right, so what do folks like you suggest? That we always turn around to strangers behind us (while somehow continuing to move forward) and say “Oh, I’m stopping here”? This is impractical and silly. Again, if the person in the front position is walking and decides to stop and look at something on an endcap, how on earth are they supposed to ESP the best way, place and timing to give “cause, warning and consideration”? Hand signals? Beeping like a backup alarm on a backhoe? Come on really? When has anyone ever seen any sort of warning signal or words from persons in a store or public place who happen to be in front of them?
NOW, that said, if/when I do stop, I try to get as close as comfortably possible to the place where I’m looking for something, but it’s not as if people can (or should) somehow beam themselves out of the aisle just because there might be someone coming along behind them. It IS the person in the rear position’s responsibility, not the person in front. (yeesh, that’s not supposed to sound as suggestive as it does :D).
Do you happen to know whether you’ve got ancestors from southern Spain? It’s relatively common here (check out Rosario Flores, I’m thinking you have something like hers), as well as just across the Straits of Gibraltar.
My brother’s landline is one figure off from the local multiplex and one from the local hospital. When the local government got a single three-digit number to be called if you want to contact any hospital or public health center there was much rejoicing in that home!
It’s not that complicated.
I won’t speak for “folks like (me) you”, just myself. If you decide to stop, you just move out of the traffic flow.
My mother and my aunt are both women who just stand there at the end of the escalator or revolving doors. Feel free to stare at them with evil glares of rage. They deserve it, but will likely not even notice the havoc they wreak let alone the dirty looks.
ETA: I’ve had to take evasive action while shopping with them on numerous occasions. My aunt in particular is the mast of walking pointedly as if making a bee-line for something and then coming to a dead stop with no body language or other hint suggesting it’s about to happen.
Yes. Stop then move out of the traffic flow. As opposed to stop and stand there blocking traffic.
However, people like Balthisar are arguing that “Stop then move out of the traffic flow” isn’t good enough, and that it has to be “move out of traffic flow then stop”. That’s what CanvasShoes is arguing against.
I agree with Balthisar. I said if you decide to stop, just move out of the traffic flow. Not stop, then move. I can’t see why anyone would argue against being considerate to others.
Stop then move out of traffic is being considerate. You’re there shopping. Your main thoughts are on shopping, not whether someone’s right on your heels with a load of lumber.
I guess I wasn’t being picky in how I worded the ordering, but stopping then moving isn’t at all productive! The general thesis would be “get out of the way” whether you want to stop or move tangent. 
This happened yesterday -
I pulled up to a local intersection, stopped, checked both ways and began moving across.
Pretty standard so far.
Then a woman peeled out from where she had been parked at the corner of the cross road (without indicating) and accelerated in front of me only to slam on her brakes and glare at me.
I raised my hands in a ‘what now?’ gesture as I waited for her to move and she apparently waited for me to carry on and hit the car that was now parked in the middle of the intersection.
The car that had also started crossing opposite me had braked at the same time and began to edge forward again, apparently hoping he could escape the crazy.
The crazy slammed on the gas and parked in front of him instead, I couldn’t see if she was giving him the same stink eye as I had received, but it allowed me to carry on through the intersection.
I can kind see her point, she would have had the right of way if she hadn’t been *parked *when me and the other driver started crossing.