7 ms·

The perils of walking slow: scientists analyze sidewalk rage

43 points by grellas 16y ago

gaius 16y ago
I don't think this is fair on the so-called "ragers". F'rinstance here in London we really do get people who will ride the escalator to the bottom, step off and just stop, seemingly oblivious to the fact that there is a conveyor mechanism directly behind them delivering a stream people to just where they're now standing. Of course they know, they've got all the senses of everyone else. They're just self-absorbed, and don't care that they're being rude by getting in the way. There's no reasoning with such people; a shove is the only language they understand.
- burgerbrain 16y ago
  Exactly. "After all, it seems simple enough to just go around the slow individual." Trust me, if I'm able to do that, then I do, no questions asked. Unfortunately the other common behaviours of slow walkers include: sudden erratic motion, walking side by side in lines with others, and stopping dead in choke-points.
  - gaius 16y ago
    Or people who will stand right in the doorway of a train when people are getting on and off, rather than stepping to one side (or even off the train altogether, people will always let them get back on first). These people have made their choice, it's just attention seeking really. However the London commuter is not a shy species... Or people who will stand on the left, despite clearly being able to see that no-one else is, even if they can't read the clear signs in English. Again it's not rude to push them out of the way; they started it.
    - relef 16y ago
      Or people trying to get _in_ the elevator before letting people out.
    - Isofarro 16y ago
      I have this theory that in London at rush hour, the space available on a busy train will exactly hold the total number of London commuters that are waiting at the platform. Apart from myself, I've never seen a London commuter not get on a train, however packed it is. I'm a pavement rager. I'm baffled by slow people with no consideration dawdling through a train station at rush hour. I tried once to patiently amble along behind them, and found out it impossible. I've learnt with OAPs that if they look like they are slowing down (!), and you have the choice to go around either side, always chose the smallest gap. Almost always they turn like an oil-tanker into the larger gap. That way you can pass by unnoticed. Couple of things wind me up. A guy reading a Kindle bumbling up a flight of stairs utterly unaware of the holdup he was causing. Not sure about handbags, they seem to be blunt instruments to be swung at fellow commuters. And always seem to increase in size and violence when their handler is looking away from you. Also, the number one tip for being bumped into by other people: wear a laptop backpack. I have a feeling there's some sort of super-magnetic quality backpacks have when on my back... I would find it useful to demarcate walking and standing areas in train station concourses. Although they have a no-standing area in Shepherd's Bush and that doesn't seem to be working. Not sure whether passengers are generally oblivious of their surroundings or have just have their London commuter face on.
      - gaius 16y ago
        And bloody wheeled luggage, I've seen people approach the ticket barrier from the side, and actually block the next turnstile with their bag while they look for their ticket! Kicking's too good for these people.
  - doron 16y ago
    It Got worse with smartphones too, people seem to respond to read their emails or ply their stupid flying bird game in the most idiotic of places (the subway stairwell comes to mind) Sometimes i stifle the urge to just push the annoyance down the stairs.
    - sophacles 16y ago
      Does that mean the other times you just push? :P
  - steamer25 16y ago
    I don't live in too crowded an area so pedestrians can usually be avoided and/or alerted with an, "excuse me" or two. There are enough people, though, who are aggressively inconsiderate that I do occasionally have problems on foot. What really irks me is that these same people, who feel entitled to monopolize any given thoroughfare, are just as common in motorized vehicles on the highway. The problems there are much worse though. Honking is considered rude and is usually illegal for non-emergency use. There's no such thing as a gentle but assertive shove with that much kinetic energy involved. In the worst case, some self-righteous offenders will intentionally congest traffic if they feel others' driving is 'unsafe'.
  - georgemcbay 16y ago
    The only time I approach sidewalk rage is with those side-by-side walkers. Nothing sets me off like a group of 3 people approaching me in the opposite direction on a sidewalk that is exactly wide enough for 3 people to walk side-by-side, and all 3 clearly see me and none of them give me a path to walk by them. ONE OF YOU JACKASSES IS GOING TO HAVE TO MOVE OR GET WALKED INTO.... IT IS SIMPLE PHYSICS HERE! ehm... sorry about that. It is one of my few real rager pet peeves.
    - Semiapies 16y ago
      My solution: if there's nobody behind you...stop. They assume, consciously or not, that you will change course for their benefit, but you can't change course if you're not moving. Suddenly, you become a stationary object, and they will adjust to that. I've never had people blunder into me when I've done that, and I've sometimes noticed them correct their walking formation afterward.
      - gaius 16y ago
        I prefer the thousand yard stare... Then they all move!
        Semiapies 16y ago
        These can be combined!
- Xurinos 16y ago
  This is a case of one group of self-absorbed people intersecting with another group of self-absorbed people. As the article points out, the ragers make up their own perceived rules, and so do the slow people. "I have the right to be here..." "People should be courteous, as I define it..." There is plenty of narcissism to go around with this kind of thing.
  - burgerbrain 16y ago
    If everyone were perfectly courteous, everyone would be standing perfectly still so as to not accidentally infringe on someone else's perceived personal space. In the real world, there really are people who block traffic in entirely unreasonable ways that effect large numbers of other people. Really the only way to properly handle that situation is to shove past, so that you don't add to the situation. There is no neutral position, you can only hope to be less rude.
    - Xurinos 16y ago
      "If everyone were perfectly courteous" = "If everyone lived by the same rules I live by" = "If everyone had the same notion of respect as I" It is difficult for people to agree, not only across cultures but within the same culture, with what is considered socially correct. Don't get me wrong: I am a large believer in courtesy. I share your vision that there is a lack of efficiency, that a few people can affect a large number of people. I see it all the time in traffic jams. On the sidewalk, I try to let people pass; I feel it is not only nice but also more efficient. However, getting angry over someone else not doing the same as I would do... That is just ego speaking. My way is not the only way or necessarily truly the best way, whatever my rationalization to suit my sense of self-righteousness.
      - burgerbrain 16y ago
        Getting angry is just an emotion, so long as you handle yourself properly it doesn't really matter at all what you feel. The point I and others are trying to get across here is that the author of the story is voicing an unrealistic expectation; one that involved everyone playing by the same rules. My point is that outward 'aggression' is a normal part of dealing with a crowd, you can't villain-ize it without villain-izing the behaviour that makes it necessary. "If everyone were perfectly courteous, everyone would be standing perfectly still so as to not accidentally infringe on someone else's perceived personal space." By this I mean a world where everybody acts to minimize discomfort of others on the streets is a fantasy.
- mark_h 16y ago
  While I've never actually resorted to shoves, I have occasionally just stopped and waited while 3 people take up the entire footpath, until one of them suddenly realises they're about to make contact when they're a foot away and has to jump. (I don't think I'm being _that_ unreasonable either, given that I'd have to step into the road to avoid them). On a more general note, my personal theory is that eye contact has a lot to do with it, subconsciously or otherwise. I tend to walk while scanning around a lot, and people will never acknowledge my existence (perhaps they perceive that I've seen them and will be the one to take evasive action). If I steadfastly refuse to acknowledge them though, such as look in the direction of my companion the entire time, they'll usually adjust their direction. Sometimes I'll alternate strategies, just to see how consistent it is. This probably makes me a "rager" as defined in the article, or maybe just an arsehole.
danielsoneg 16y ago
This article was clearly written by someone who A) Doesn't live in a city and B) Never had to get anywhere by walking.
- HelloBeautiful 16y ago
  The previous post was clearly written by someone who A) Is an aggressive walker ;-)
edw519 16y ago
Closely related: Checkout-Line Rage: When you empty your shopping cart with only one hand because you're on the phone. When you don't step forward to enable the next person to emply her cart. When you take 27 items through the express line. When you pay by credit/debit/check/etc. and don't know how. When you use coupons. Movie Theater Rage: When you enter the theater 5 minutes after the movie started and complain you can't find a seat. When you talk during the movie. When you text during the movie. When you bring your baby. When you put your feet on my chair, next to my head. When you say, "Here comes the scene where the car hits him!" Neighbor Rage: When your yard sale visitors block my driveway. When your idiot kid shovels your snow onto my driveway. When your dog shits on my lawn. When you play any Rick Astley song while you wash your car. Work Rage: When you put the empty coffee pot on a hot burner. When you leave your fish sandwich in the refrigerator for 3 weeks. When you touch every donut just to see what they are. When you buy the last Snickers from the vending machine. When you wear too much fragrence. When you bitch about others wearing too much fragrence. Previous Programmer Rage: When you name all your variables x, xx, xxx, and xxxx. When you have the exact same code 9 times in the same program and I only changed 8 of them. When you document anything 4 different places, all of them differently. When you promote your code before bothering to test for outlying cases. When you don't sign your work so I don't know who to bitch about.
- viraptor 16y ago
  > When you don't sign your work Also, when you put your name anywhere in the file, since not only the code is going to outlive you career there, I can get more detailed information from the VCS. It's like a badly drawn graffiti tag.
  - lukeschlather 16y ago
    Some of us have done too much work in environments where VCS scares people. Actually, when I worked with UniBASIC/Datatel, VCS was basically impossible because the architecture was so bizarre. Unless I wanted to write my own, and of course I had actual tasks I was trying to accomplish and writing a VCS was not really worth it if I couldn't get anyone else to use it. Better to adopt the habit of copying database records (which doubled as source files) with a note of the date and my initials, since that's how it was done. Well, also I did quit.
mahmud 16y ago
I lived in the southern-most point of Kowloon, Hong Kong, easily one of the most crowded areas on earth, and also one with the highest concentration of tourists. This never fails; go to the gate of any metro stop and you will find a group of tour-bus idiots holding hands in a road-blocking vigil. How about the Shoulder-to-Shoulder Walkers: the obstructionist quartet of parallel dimwits. Or guy who likes to stand in the middle of the moving walk way when I am running to board a flight (bonus if he has no luggage.)
e40 16y ago
I have a similar but slightly different issue: raging at bicycles while walking on the sidewalk. I've been hit twice, by completely unrepentant cyclists, and had near misses with scores of others. I will always give a dirty look at a cyclist on a sidewalk, the meanness in direct proportion with their speed. One that gets me: riding in a business district right next to open shop doors--someone could walk out and get seriously injured. For these cyclists, I will sometimes step in front of them (if I can safely) and nicely tell them to take it to the street.
- bryanlarsen 16y ago
  You're right, bicycles do belong on the street -- it's actually safer for them there (most accidents are at intersections, and the closer you are to the middle of the road, the more visible you are). However, far worse than pedestrian ragers are car ragers. There's something about being isolated in a bubble that turns ordinary people into ragers. And some of these car ragers believe that bicycles belong on sidewalks and deliberately endanger bicyclist lives to force them onto the sidewalk. There's no easy solution, but one is simply more bicyclists, making bicyclists a common site on roads.
- dnsworks 16y ago
  There's another side to this. In San Francisco it's illegal to ride your bicyclist on the sidewalk. I got knocked down pretty hard a week ago by a hipster douchebag on his fixie who decided he could go faster by switching from driving the wrong way down a 1 way street. He screamed at me, calling me a "fat ass", and stormed off while I laid there dazed. When people are in the wrong they know it, and they get especially angry when others notice it, often responding with passive or active aggression. Slow walkers decide they have entitlement to get in your way, and when they notice you're trying to sneak aroundthem, will actively make it difficult by swinging their bags out a bit further. As a pedestrian, my theory is if a car gets close enough to me in the crosswalk that I can kick it, I do. After getting knocked down the other day, I've been thinking lately I should adapt this to "if I can clothesline a bicyclist breaking the law, I should". #pedestrianrage
- rue 16y ago
  That's a completely different matter, though, in that it's not permissible to ride a bike on a sidewalk pretty much anywhere (here, we must use the bike path although I'd prefer the street which is the case elsewhere). It's reasonable to be upset at people breaking codified behaviour (law, even) – similar to a pedestrian walking down the road instead of the sidewalk. The intra-sidewalk issue of various pedestrians wandering around aimlessly, stopping randomly, walking inexplicably slowly &c. is the studied topic. I must admit, I get quite frustrated with the above though not to the point of being angry let alone enraged. I've always imagined that city people are better at passively taking others into account when moving but that might make an interesting study as well.
defen 16y ago
I guess I would be considered a "sidewalk rager", although rage is a very strong word since I've never risen to the level of physical contact or even verbal confrontation - perhaps exasperation would be a better word. It's not limited to sidewalk-walking; it also applies to city driving. In my experience (having lived in San Francisco and New York) there are two types of people who trigger this: 1) People who are so self-absorbed that it doesn't even appear to register in their minds that there are actually other people in the city or on the road. Into this group would fall some cell-phone users, arrogant business-types, stroller-pushers, escalator-blockers, etc. 2) People who feel powerless in their own lives, and intentionally cause grief as a passive-aggressive way of asserting dominance over others without really breaking the law. Typically urban poor and out-of-town youths. Lest anyone get the wrong idea, I don't think everyone needs to have the same conception of city etiquette as I do. I'm just describing one of the (little) drawbacks to living in a crowded city for someone with my personality.
- alexqgb 16y ago
  Stated beautifully. The issue cited in the paper doesn't seem to be "rage", which seems fairly uncommon. Instead, it seems to address common exasperation with the congenitally (and deliberately?) witless, with a few extremes thrown in for good effect. It would be different if the author acknowledged that the people triggering exasperation were, in fact, behaving badly. Instead, he seems to dismiss any sense of socially cohesive conduct as something mysterious, arbitrary, and possibly dangerous. It's easy to read the whole thing as a passive-aggressive defense of passive-aggressive jerks. The one in a million who actually go ballistic are outliers. The PA types who trigger them - though a minority - are exponentially more common, and an irritation for everybody.
  - teyc 16y ago
    I don't think this is the author's focus. He is trying to convey that there is a better way rather than being easily exasperated because the negativity wastes the limited life we each have. The sense of exasperation arises out of a state of mind that is easily disturbed and ruffled. Whatever skills one can gain from being 'at one' with the crowd will translate into the rest of their lives, and improve the relationship with their loved ones.
nickolai 16y ago
And yet another case of " Am I free to impede the freedom of others? " type of conflict.
gaoshan 16y ago
The example of a rager they give reminds me (somewhat ashamedly) of myself last summer at the Expo in China. I "know" China and Chinese people so the way people in massive crowds walk in China is no surprise to me but at that Expo, with its massive-even-for-China crowds and sardine-like packed spacing I lost it a couple of times. The Chinese idea of personal space is already a challenge for most from the West but pack the place nuts to butts with way too many people, throw in the utter disregard for lines that many in China have and it's a recipe for tension for most foreigners. My breaking point was when people started to shove and push my 9 year old daughter (as she was the weakest link in our group). I got yelled at when I squared my shoulders and bulled through a line, kids and wife in tow, that (for lack of someone providing a foot of space) would have otherwise required a quarter-mile detour and I admit I feel a bit bad about that. Heck, just standing still I knocked a guy flat on his back (I got tired of being the only one, seemingly, moving out of the way when I walked so as an experiment I decided to walk from point A to B in a straight line. There was a small group headed my way and when we got close I simply stopped and stood my ground. When they collided with me people went flying as I'm a very big guy and they were not). The folks that ran into me thought it was hilarious. I was a bit steamed. I guess it takes a bit of a push to get me going but I have some of that rage lurking in me. Makes me feel the need to excise it, lol.
wybo 16y ago
Walking-etiquette seems to be even less established/clear in places in the UK where there are many tourists, expats and/or overseas students. I've lived both in London and Oxford now, and in both these cities (but especially Oxford) there seems to be no default side of the road/sidewalk to walk on, or for passing people, leading to all kinds of interesting situations. There is less bumping into one another here, probably, because most people here seem quite polite, but 'after you, no after you', and 'left-right-left dancing, as two people approach one another from opposite directions and consider on which side to pass', are quite commonly observed :) I wonder how the left VS right side of the road issue + the idea that pedestrians should walk on the other side than traffic, so they can see cars coming - forked on top of it, works out in other, similar places, and whether it could lead to different local optima ?
georgecmu 16y ago
A lot of their examples involve narrow passages in locations, where it's likely that a large percentage of pedestrians are pressed for time: airports, subways, business districts. There's etiquette that prescribes behavior in those places, and often it's quite official. In Moscow, which has one of the busiest subway systems in the world, you learn as a child to stand on the right and let people pass on the left, regardless of how crowded or empty the escalator is. There are occasional loudspeaker reminders of that rule. When I moved to the States, it exasperated me that people would block the entire escalator and wouldn't even think of budging, being completely oblivious of other people and their needs. Another recent example -- I was late to a meeting and had to navigate through a long corridor, which was reasonably empty and wide enough for 6 people to walk shoulder to shoulder. No problem, except for a lady in front of me, who not only walked just fast enough that I couldn't execute a quick maneuver to pass her, but also did not walk in a straight path and instead oscillated quickly and unpredictably. We walked for half the length of this passage, before I finally had an opening to pass her. Generally, slow walkers are not a problem. Slow walkers in narrow passages that act as if they're a sole Earth inhabitant -- are.
- bld 16y ago
  Washington DC's one of the few places in the US I've seen with that same escalator etiquette in the Metro. I love it. Unfortunately, it doesn't usually apply at shopping malls.
- Semiapies 16y ago
  Yes. There's a weird sense of, "Man, people think there are all these rules..." in TFA. Well, there are.
dnsworks 16y ago
As someone who walks 8-10 miles per day in an urban area, I often wonder why it is that I'm the one contorting my body so as to politely not bump into slow walkers. When I'm in a bad mood, to be honest, I just plow through the people who meander 3 or 4 abreast as slowly as they can.
shaggyfrog 16y ago
This Improv Anywhere "mission" seems apropos: http://improveverywhere.com/2010/06/08/the-tourist-lane/ http://improveverywhere.com/2010/06/08/the-tourist-lane/

43 points by grellas 16y ago

gaius 16y ago

I don't think this is fair on the so-called "ragers". F'rinstance here in London we really do get people who will ride the escalator to the bottom, step off and just stop, seemingly oblivious to the fact that there is a conveyor mechanism directly behind them delivering a stream people to just where they're now standing. Of course they know, they've got all the senses of everyone else. They're just self-absorbed, and don't care that they're being rude by getting in the way. There's no reasoning with such people; a shove is the only language they understand.

burgerbrain 16y ago
Exactly. "After all, it seems simple enough to just go around the slow individual." Trust me, if I'm able to do that, then I do, no questions asked. Unfortunately the other common behaviours of slow walkers include: sudden erratic motion, walking side by side in lines with others, and stopping dead in choke-points.
- gaius 16y ago
  Or people who will stand right in the doorway of a train when people are getting on and off, rather than stepping to one side (or even off the train altogether, people will always let them get back on first). These people have made their choice, it's just attention seeking really. However the London commuter is not a shy species... Or people who will stand on the left, despite clearly being able to see that no-one else is, even if they can't read the clear signs in English. Again it's not rude to push them out of the way; they started it.
  - relef 16y ago
    Or people trying to get _in_ the elevator before letting people out.
  - Isofarro 16y ago
    I have this theory that in London at rush hour, the space available on a busy train will exactly hold the total number of London commuters that are waiting at the platform. Apart from myself, I've never seen a London commuter not get on a train, however packed it is. I'm a pavement rager. I'm baffled by slow people with no consideration dawdling through a train station at rush hour. I tried once to patiently amble along behind them, and found out it impossible. I've learnt with OAPs that if they look like they are slowing down (!), and you have the choice to go around either side, always chose the smallest gap. Almost always they turn like an oil-tanker into the larger gap. That way you can pass by unnoticed. Couple of things wind me up. A guy reading a Kindle bumbling up a flight of stairs utterly unaware of the holdup he was causing. Not sure about handbags, they seem to be blunt instruments to be swung at fellow commuters. And always seem to increase in size and violence when their handler is looking away from you. Also, the number one tip for being bumped into by other people: wear a laptop backpack. I have a feeling there's some sort of super-magnetic quality backpacks have when on my back... I would find it useful to demarcate walking and standing areas in train station concourses. Although they have a no-standing area in Shepherd's Bush and that doesn't seem to be working. Not sure whether passengers are generally oblivious of their surroundings or have just have their London commuter face on.
    - gaius 16y ago
      And bloody wheeled luggage, I've seen people approach the ticket barrier from the side, and actually block the next turnstile with their bag while they look for their ticket! Kicking's too good for these people.
- doron 16y ago
  It Got worse with smartphones too, people seem to respond to read their emails or ply their stupid flying bird game in the most idiotic of places (the subway stairwell comes to mind) Sometimes i stifle the urge to just push the annoyance down the stairs.
  - sophacles 16y ago
    Does that mean the other times you just push? :P
- steamer25 16y ago
  I don't live in too crowded an area so pedestrians can usually be avoided and/or alerted with an, "excuse me" or two. There are enough people, though, who are aggressively inconsiderate that I do occasionally have problems on foot. What really irks me is that these same people, who feel entitled to monopolize any given thoroughfare, are just as common in motorized vehicles on the highway. The problems there are much worse though. Honking is considered rude and is usually illegal for non-emergency use. There's no such thing as a gentle but assertive shove with that much kinetic energy involved. In the worst case, some self-righteous offenders will intentionally congest traffic if they feel others' driving is 'unsafe'.
- georgemcbay 16y ago
  The only time I approach sidewalk rage is with those side-by-side walkers. Nothing sets me off like a group of 3 people approaching me in the opposite direction on a sidewalk that is exactly wide enough for 3 people to walk side-by-side, and all 3 clearly see me and none of them give me a path to walk by them. ONE OF YOU JACKASSES IS GOING TO HAVE TO MOVE OR GET WALKED INTO.... IT IS SIMPLE PHYSICS HERE! ehm... sorry about that. It is one of my few real rager pet peeves.
  - Semiapies 16y ago
    My solution: if there's nobody behind you...stop. They assume, consciously or not, that you will change course for their benefit, but you can't change course if you're not moving. Suddenly, you become a stationary object, and they will adjust to that. I've never had people blunder into me when I've done that, and I've sometimes noticed them correct their walking formation afterward.
    - gaius 16y ago
      I prefer the thousand yard stare... Then they all move!
      - Semiapies 16y ago
        These can be combined!
Xurinos 16y ago
This is a case of one group of self-absorbed people intersecting with another group of self-absorbed people. As the article points out, the ragers make up their own perceived rules, and so do the slow people. "I have the right to be here..." "People should be courteous, as I define it..." There is plenty of narcissism to go around with this kind of thing.
- burgerbrain 16y ago
  If everyone were perfectly courteous, everyone would be standing perfectly still so as to not accidentally infringe on someone else's perceived personal space. In the real world, there really are people who block traffic in entirely unreasonable ways that effect large numbers of other people. Really the only way to properly handle that situation is to shove past, so that you don't add to the situation. There is no neutral position, you can only hope to be less rude.
  - Xurinos 16y ago
    "If everyone were perfectly courteous" = "If everyone lived by the same rules I live by" = "If everyone had the same notion of respect as I" It is difficult for people to agree, not only across cultures but within the same culture, with what is considered socially correct. Don't get me wrong: I am a large believer in courtesy. I share your vision that there is a lack of efficiency, that a few people can affect a large number of people. I see it all the time in traffic jams. On the sidewalk, I try to let people pass; I feel it is not only nice but also more efficient. However, getting angry over someone else not doing the same as I would do... That is just ego speaking. My way is not the only way or necessarily truly the best way, whatever my rationalization to suit my sense of self-righteousness.
    - burgerbrain 16y ago
      Getting angry is just an emotion, so long as you handle yourself properly it doesn't really matter at all what you feel. The point I and others are trying to get across here is that the author of the story is voicing an unrealistic expectation; one that involved everyone playing by the same rules. My point is that outward 'aggression' is a normal part of dealing with a crowd, you can't villain-ize it without villain-izing the behaviour that makes it necessary. "If everyone were perfectly courteous, everyone would be standing perfectly still so as to not accidentally infringe on someone else's perceived personal space." By this I mean a world where everybody acts to minimize discomfort of others on the streets is a fantasy.
mark_h 16y ago
While I've never actually resorted to shoves, I have occasionally just stopped and waited while 3 people take up the entire footpath, until one of them suddenly realises they're about to make contact when they're a foot away and has to jump. (I don't think I'm being _that_ unreasonable either, given that I'd have to step into the road to avoid them). On a more general note, my personal theory is that eye contact has a lot to do with it, subconsciously or otherwise. I tend to walk while scanning around a lot, and people will never acknowledge my existence (perhaps they perceive that I've seen them and will be the one to take evasive action). If I steadfastly refuse to acknowledge them though, such as look in the direction of my companion the entire time, they'll usually adjust their direction. Sometimes I'll alternate strategies, just to see how consistent it is. This probably makes me a "rager" as defined in the article, or maybe just an arsehole.

danielsoneg 16y ago

This article was clearly written by someone who A) Doesn't live in a city and B) Never had to get anywhere by walking.

HelloBeautiful 16y ago
The previous post was clearly written by someone who A) Is an aggressive walker ;-)

edw519 16y ago

Closely related: Checkout-Line Rage: When you empty your shopping cart with only one hand because you're on the phone. When you don't step forward to enable the next person to emply her cart. When you take 27 items through the express line. When you pay by credit/debit/check/etc. and don't know how. When you use coupons. Movie Theater Rage: When you enter the theater 5 minutes after the movie started and complain you can't find a seat. When you talk during the movie. When you text during the movie. When you bring your baby. When you put your feet on my chair, next to my head. When you say, "Here comes the scene where the car hits him!" Neighbor Rage: When your yard sale visitors block my driveway. When your idiot kid shovels your snow onto my driveway. When your dog shits on my lawn. When you play any Rick Astley song while you wash your car. Work Rage: When you put the empty coffee pot on a hot burner. When you leave your fish sandwich in the refrigerator for 3 weeks. When you touch every donut just to see what they are. When you buy the last Snickers from the vending machine. When you wear too much fragrence. When you bitch about others wearing too much fragrence. Previous Programmer Rage: When you name all your variables x, xx, xxx, and xxxx. When you have the exact same code 9 times in the same program and I only changed 8 of them. When you document anything 4 different places, all of them differently. When you promote your code before bothering to test for outlying cases. When you don't sign your work so I don't know who to bitch about.

viraptor 16y ago
> When you don't sign your work Also, when you put your name anywhere in the file, since not only the code is going to outlive you career there, I can get more detailed information from the VCS. It's like a badly drawn graffiti tag.
- lukeschlather 16y ago
  Some of us have done too much work in environments where VCS scares people. Actually, when I worked with UniBASIC/Datatel, VCS was basically impossible because the architecture was so bizarre. Unless I wanted to write my own, and of course I had actual tasks I was trying to accomplish and writing a VCS was not really worth it if I couldn't get anyone else to use it. Better to adopt the habit of copying database records (which doubled as source files) with a note of the date and my initials, since that's how it was done. Well, also I did quit.

mahmud 16y ago

I lived in the southern-most point of Kowloon, Hong Kong, easily one of the most crowded areas on earth, and also one with the highest concentration of tourists. This never fails; go to the gate of any metro stop and you will find a group of tour-bus idiots holding hands in a road-blocking vigil. How about the Shoulder-to-Shoulder Walkers: the obstructionist quartet of parallel dimwits. Or guy who likes to stand in the middle of the moving walk way when I am running to board a flight (bonus if he has no luggage.)

e40 16y ago

I have a similar but slightly different issue: raging at bicycles while walking on the sidewalk. I've been hit twice, by completely unrepentant cyclists, and had near misses with scores of others. I will always give a dirty look at a cyclist on a sidewalk, the meanness in direct proportion with their speed. One that gets me: riding in a business district right next to open shop doors--someone could walk out and get seriously injured. For these cyclists, I will sometimes step in front of them (if I can safely) and nicely tell them to take it to the street.

bryanlarsen 16y ago
You're right, bicycles do belong on the street -- it's actually safer for them there (most accidents are at intersections, and the closer you are to the middle of the road, the more visible you are). However, far worse than pedestrian ragers are car ragers. There's something about being isolated in a bubble that turns ordinary people into ragers. And some of these car ragers believe that bicycles belong on sidewalks and deliberately endanger bicyclist lives to force them onto the sidewalk. There's no easy solution, but one is simply more bicyclists, making bicyclists a common site on roads.
dnsworks 16y ago
There's another side to this. In San Francisco it's illegal to ride your bicyclist on the sidewalk. I got knocked down pretty hard a week ago by a hipster douchebag on his fixie who decided he could go faster by switching from driving the wrong way down a 1 way street. He screamed at me, calling me a "fat ass", and stormed off while I laid there dazed. When people are in the wrong they know it, and they get especially angry when others notice it, often responding with passive or active aggression. Slow walkers decide they have entitlement to get in your way, and when they notice you're trying to sneak aroundthem, will actively make it difficult by swinging their bags out a bit further. As a pedestrian, my theory is if a car gets close enough to me in the crosswalk that I can kick it, I do. After getting knocked down the other day, I've been thinking lately I should adapt this to "if I can clothesline a bicyclist breaking the law, I should". #pedestrianrage
rue 16y ago
That's a completely different matter, though, in that it's not permissible to ride a bike on a sidewalk pretty much anywhere (here, we must use the bike path although I'd prefer the street which is the case elsewhere). It's reasonable to be upset at people breaking codified behaviour (law, even) – similar to a pedestrian walking down the road instead of the sidewalk. The intra-sidewalk issue of various pedestrians wandering around aimlessly, stopping randomly, walking inexplicably slowly &c. is the studied topic. I must admit, I get quite frustrated with the above though not to the point of being angry let alone enraged. I've always imagined that city people are better at passively taking others into account when moving but that might make an interesting study as well.

defen 16y ago

I guess I would be considered a "sidewalk rager", although rage is a very strong word since I've never risen to the level of physical contact or even verbal confrontation - perhaps exasperation would be a better word. It's not limited to sidewalk-walking; it also applies to city driving. In my experience (having lived in San Francisco and New York) there are two types of people who trigger this: 1) People who are so self-absorbed that it doesn't even appear to register in their minds that there are actually other people in the city or on the road. Into this group would fall some cell-phone users, arrogant business-types, stroller-pushers, escalator-blockers, etc. 2) People who feel powerless in their own lives, and intentionally cause grief as a passive-aggressive way of asserting dominance over others without really breaking the law. Typically urban poor and out-of-town youths. Lest anyone get the wrong idea, I don't think everyone needs to have the same conception of city etiquette as I do. I'm just describing one of the (little) drawbacks to living in a crowded city for someone with my personality.

alexqgb 16y ago
Stated beautifully. The issue cited in the paper doesn't seem to be "rage", which seems fairly uncommon. Instead, it seems to address common exasperation with the congenitally (and deliberately?) witless, with a few extremes thrown in for good effect. It would be different if the author acknowledged that the people triggering exasperation were, in fact, behaving badly. Instead, he seems to dismiss any sense of socially cohesive conduct as something mysterious, arbitrary, and possibly dangerous. It's easy to read the whole thing as a passive-aggressive defense of passive-aggressive jerks. The one in a million who actually go ballistic are outliers. The PA types who trigger them - though a minority - are exponentially more common, and an irritation for everybody.
- teyc 16y ago
  I don't think this is the author's focus. He is trying to convey that there is a better way rather than being easily exasperated because the negativity wastes the limited life we each have. The sense of exasperation arises out of a state of mind that is easily disturbed and ruffled. Whatever skills one can gain from being 'at one' with the crowd will translate into the rest of their lives, and improve the relationship with their loved ones.

nickolai 16y ago

And yet another case of " Am I free to impede the freedom of others? " type of conflict.

gaoshan 16y ago

The example of a rager they give reminds me (somewhat ashamedly) of myself last summer at the Expo in China. I "know" China and Chinese people so the way people in massive crowds walk in China is no surprise to me but at that Expo, with its massive-even-for-China crowds and sardine-like packed spacing I lost it a couple of times. The Chinese idea of personal space is already a challenge for most from the West but pack the place nuts to butts with way too many people, throw in the utter disregard for lines that many in China have and it's a recipe for tension for most foreigners. My breaking point was when people started to shove and push my 9 year old daughter (as she was the weakest link in our group). I got yelled at when I squared my shoulders and bulled through a line, kids and wife in tow, that (for lack of someone providing a foot of space) would have otherwise required a quarter-mile detour and I admit I feel a bit bad about that. Heck, just standing still I knocked a guy flat on his back (I got tired of being the only one, seemingly, moving out of the way when I walked so as an experiment I decided to walk from point A to B in a straight line. There was a small group headed my way and when we got close I simply stopped and stood my ground. When they collided with me people went flying as I'm a very big guy and they were not). The folks that ran into me thought it was hilarious. I was a bit steamed. I guess it takes a bit of a push to get me going but I have some of that rage lurking in me. Makes me feel the need to excise it, lol.

wybo 16y ago

Walking-etiquette seems to be even less established/clear in places in the UK where there are many tourists, expats and/or overseas students. I've lived both in London and Oxford now, and in both these cities (but especially Oxford) there seems to be no default side of the road/sidewalk to walk on, or for passing people, leading to all kinds of interesting situations. There is less bumping into one another here, probably, because most people here seem quite polite, but 'after you, no after you', and 'left-right-left dancing, as two people approach one another from opposite directions and consider on which side to pass', are quite commonly observed :) I wonder how the left VS right side of the road issue + the idea that pedestrians should walk on the other side than traffic, so they can see cars coming - forked on top of it, works out in other, similar places, and whether it could lead to different local optima ?

georgecmu 16y ago

A lot of their examples involve narrow passages in locations, where it's likely that a large percentage of pedestrians are pressed for time: airports, subways, business districts. There's etiquette that prescribes behavior in those places, and often it's quite official. In Moscow, which has one of the busiest subway systems in the world, you learn as a child to stand on the right and let people pass on the left, regardless of how crowded or empty the escalator is. There are occasional loudspeaker reminders of that rule. When I moved to the States, it exasperated me that people would block the entire escalator and wouldn't even think of budging, being completely oblivious of other people and their needs. Another recent example -- I was late to a meeting and had to navigate through a long corridor, which was reasonably empty and wide enough for 6 people to walk shoulder to shoulder. No problem, except for a lady in front of me, who not only walked just fast enough that I couldn't execute a quick maneuver to pass her, but also did not walk in a straight path and instead oscillated quickly and unpredictably. We walked for half the length of this passage, before I finally had an opening to pass her. Generally, slow walkers are not a problem. Slow walkers in narrow passages that act as if they're a sole Earth inhabitant -- are.

bld 16y ago
Washington DC's one of the few places in the US I've seen with that same escalator etiquette in the Metro. I love it. Unfortunately, it doesn't usually apply at shopping malls.
Semiapies 16y ago
Yes. There's a weird sense of, "Man, people think there are all these rules..." in TFA. Well, there are.

dnsworks 16y ago

As someone who walks 8-10 miles per day in an urban area, I often wonder why it is that I'm the one contorting my body so as to politely not bump into slow walkers. When I'm in a bad mood, to be honest, I just plow through the people who meander 3 or 4 abreast as slowly as they can.

shaggyfrog 16y ago

This Improv Anywhere "mission" seems apropos: http://improveverywhere.com/2010/06/08/the-tourist-lane/ http://improveverywhere.com/2010/06/08/the-tourist-lane/