While walking, do you move to let people pass, or do you make people move to pass by you?

[graywarrior]

Is this a class thing? Here in Sarasota, when I walk downtown, I notice that the wealthy will not move over on the sidewalk to allow me to pass by them. I need to either stop to let them pass, or move to the side. I am getting sick of it. So today, I did what they do and man, they got pissed. WTF is that all about?

How do you walk--like you own the sidewalk, or like you share it?

[Rabrrrrrr]

1. I just shove my baby carriage ahead of me like a battering ram, and let my unleashed dogs

do whatever the hell they want.

[texas1928]

2. They move for me.

Cause I can bust ankles.

[graywarrior]

3. I need you guys as a posse

[Sugar Smack]

4. If you arrange a really mad expression on your face and swing your arms

I notice it keeps people at a respectable berth.

This was learned behavior for me. :loveya: :yourock: And I know exactly what you're talking about.

[graywarrior]

5. Thing is, I look intense.

But I don't dress like a Sarasota rich person. They probably think I'm a hobo.

[Sugar Smack]

7. You know what's weird, the upper class around here

dress down; I notice in NC, people with money are likelier to go around like hobos. It seems in a lot of places like CA or maybe Sarasota, for instance, someone like me in my clothes would be strolling on the gutter. But here it's very different. Maybe it's a question of eye contact and assumed fearlessness. I have traffic problems with people walking 3 abreast here.



:nuke:

[Inchworm]

9. hehe

too true.

:hi:

[Sugar Smack]

14. You! NCer, there! Those yacht people look positively RAGGEDY

don't they? And it's what happens when good flannel turns to fine silk. I found the same kind of behavior graywarrior's talking about especially in places like Manteo.

[graywarrior]

13. That's how it is in NH.

The extreme wealthy look like street people.

One day I ran into a famous writer on his street and he was dressed in a greasy red sox cap, torn shorts, a grungy t-shirt with some awful colored sweatshirt tied around his waist. I thought he was a bum at first. I thought, god he's cool.

[Sugar Smack]

19. We could write a book about this shit.

Paul Fussell came out with a book called Class in 1982, but which is still applicable today. I've loaned out a total of about 14 copies of it without hope of ever getting one back.

You know, I'd do anything to meet this bum of yours!!!!!!!!! :D :D :D :D :D

[graywarrior]

21. I will see him in Fryeburg this summer

[Sugar Smack]

22. Oooh, so I hear!

That was awesome. Thanks for the wonderful letter. :hug:

[graywarrior]

23. You are welcome

More to follow, I'm sure. 14 more days.

[zanne]

32. Sometimes it's a standoff.

I seem to almost "walk into" people. Then one of us will zig and one of us will zag, and we'll go back and forth for about 30 seconds until we both laugh and one of us just stops.

[siligut]

6. Keep on doing what you are doing.

I notice what you do sometimes, it isn’t just the moneyed. Don’t let it get to you; write it off as what it is.

Don’t put malicious energy into it, but you have every bit of right to the sidewalk as anyone else. I share by the way, sometimes, I nod my head and smile too.

I know the attitude of people who grew up privileged, they haven’t a clue. Some of them actually think they are better than other people.

Sorry you have to deal with the crap, but that is what it is, crap; don’t let anyone convince you otherwise.

On another note, my guy who is huge, he just doesn’t notice other people. Sometimes I have to pull on him to get him to move out of people’s way. He is humble and he doesn’t think he is better than others, he is just internally focused.

[Gormy Cuss]

8. But it's an exclusive shopping area...

Good thing you're leaving FL soon. :)

Sarasota has a lot of tourists/snowbirds looking to spend money downtown, right? I've noticed that tourists have a tendency to think they own the sidewalk because they become oblivious on vacation.

The well-off are different. Come to the hoity-toity shopping area here and walk around the supermarkets with me. You'd be amazed at how many women leave OPEN purses on the shopping cart while they look for stuff at the end of the aisle. In my old Slummerville/Cambridge border neighborhood that would never happen.

[graywarrior]

16. It's mostly the tourists.

I must be a tourist/wealthy racist.

[EstimatedProphet]

10. How do you know they're wealthy?

I do both. I move aside for them, then move in front of them. Really fucks them up.

[graywarrior]

15. You can tell by the jewelry and the expensive haircuts.

[One_Life_To_Give]

11. My mom would tan my hide

for blocking the sidewalk like that. Making eveyone else slow down to the speed of my lazy ass. Can't do that anymore than leave a shopping cart in the middle of a parking lot.

[BuelahWitch]

So run into the fuckers and grab a wallet on the way by!

Seriously, I have that problem in downtown Lawrence, KS but it's wealthy gangs of teenyboppers crowding the sidewalk. Truthfully, I don't know that they're wealthy. Their need for the name brand fashionable clothes they wear could also have mommy and daddy knee deep in debt.

[NJmaverick]

12. I usually encounter the mutual, each gives a little

On the other hand if someone acts like I am the one that has to move....

[1gobluedem]

17. I move for them

Because I am a slowpoke.

[The2ndWheel]

18. Each try to get out of the others way

I go right, they go left. I go left, they go right. We do this for hours because we're both just too damn polite. Then we giggle like schoolgirls while we try to cover our smiles when we realize what we've been doing, and notice that now there is a long line behind each of us doing the exact same thing. Synchronized silliness. It's actually beautiful to watch.

[graywarrior]

20. Bwahahahaha, that's great!

[MissMillie]

24. I'm a sharer

but I get really miffed when others walk 2 and 3 across and expect me to move for all of them. It happens here on campus a lot. MBA students are, generally speaking of course, not blessed with self-awareness.

[LaurenG]

25. I move

unless there is no where for me to go then I just make myslf real skinny and stand sideways while holding my breath. :7

Or

I share unless someone is taking up the whole sidewalk and has an arrogant attitude, then I hold my ground.

[Wcross]

26. I always stay to the right like driving.

I particularly hate the people that are "joined at the hip" or worse yet, families who MUST walk side by side. Its as if they expect me to accommodate them by stepping into the street. No, I continue on walking on the far right side of the sidewalk. If we bump into each other too bad. BTW- I am 6'6" tall, 250lbs & I am not concerned about a small collision. If they aren't worried about running into me, why should I be worried about running into them?

[LeftyFingerPop]

27. I'll always just move out of the way...

less hassle. Seems that people look for any excuse these days, so I just try to avoid it.

[KansDem]

28. I move...but I do agree with this statement...

I notice that the wealthy will not move over on the sidewalk to allow me to pass by them.

I've noticed the wealthy will not acknowledge that I have moved for them to pass. It's like I'm suppose to move for them and a simple acknowledgment of my courtesy is not warranted. I notice this more with older, affluent women...

[Sugar Smack]

30. This is when it helps to have a club foot

or an out-of-control spasm in your arm.

[CBHagman]

29. I make room.

I've lived in seven different states and the District of Columbia, and have spent time in Canada and Europe, but it's only been in the Washington, D.C., area that I started noticing issues with space.

Now let me preface this with the observation that in the D.C. area, it's only a limited number of aggressive souls that stand out. Most people do show consideration on sidewalks and in stores.

Then there are the doozies who barrel through everything and into everyone. I first noticed that while waiting for a Metro train. I was up against a concrete wall and people would almost walk right into me instead of adjusting their path. Then there was the guy who was running for a train and knocked me flying. I was wearing a suit and carrying paperwork for a job interview and wound up literally skidding across the tiles. I heard people gasp but no one asked if I was hurt or helped me to my feet. The guy who struck me turned around to apologize but clearly was in a huge hurry to go on his way.

There was also the time that on a wide and virtually empty sidewalk I'd paused to jot down the address of an office building. A young guy came up the sidewalk and more or less walked right into me.

And then there are the people who think it's a good idea to walk three, four, five, six, or seven abreast in the store or on the sidewalk, as if they're filming The Magnificent Seven or something.

It's all a matter of balancing confidence with consideration -- a hard task for many, it seems.

[pitohui]

31. i am a small woman, ergo, i make lots of evasive maneuvers

i'll let somebody else make a stand over who has the biggest dick when passing on the sidewalk, i step aside or even cross the street to avoid knocking into someone or even walking close by someone

if i stop to let them pass, even if they do bump into me, there is less chance of serious injury to me (less total momentum) but, realistically, when i stop, then people suddenly veer to avoid me because who wants to run into somebody who is standing and planted firmly, even if they are small

if possible of course i just step to the side and keep moving but it isn't always possible

in short, i do what looks to be the safest thing for me, and if standing aside while some asshole continues to barrel down the sidewalk is the safe thing to do that is what i do

it doesn't need to be about my ego and nothing important would be won if i started to act like a jerk just because they act like a jerk

[Iggo]

33. I stay in my lane.

I'll yield to women and children (excluding teenage boys.) Also, I'll make allowances for the elderly, the infirm, wheelchair people, people carrying stuff, and anyone I damn well please yielding to.

Hmm...I guess what I'm saying is, if you're an adult male or a teenage boy, I'll run your ass right off the sidewalk if I have to...heheheh.

[geardaddy]

34. If people need to pass...

I generally move.

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

35. I move some

but if they're not moving over at all, I'll just stop, smile, and let them navigate around me.

Just move up north. Then it'll be cold, and nobody'll be on the sidewalk anyway.

How many days?

:hi:

[bigwillq]

36. Depends who gets to the crossing point first

If I am first, I think I should be allowed to pass first. If the other person is first, then I will move aside and let them pass. Make sense?

[mitchum]

37. Sorry, I can't answer that...

I'm a fast walker
Freakishly fast from what I understand
I just move around people

[azmouse]

38. Since I run around nekkid they let me pass.

Can't say I blame 'em... :rofl:

[DeposeTheBoyKing]

39. Depends on who's approaching

If the person seems obnoxious in some way, I make them move. If they seem friendly, I'll move.

[ordinaryaveragegirl]

40. Call me rude, but...

If I'm in a hurry, I just pass. I hate when people walk in the middle of the sidewalk like that - it's akin to stradding two parking spots in a lot, IMHO.