Learn How to Walk Before You Talk

[House Balstroko]

The idea behind this thread came to me while taking a stroll one day. I've been to over 30 countries and noticed that basic human behaviour is very similar across the board.The topic title is somewhat tongue-in-cheek.bit also serve to discuss some important observations.

People don't know how to walk. Wherever one goes they will be met by people walking at a snail's pace, blocking entrances to elevators preventing others from getting out, standing in the middle of an escalator (stand to the side so others can walk without being blocked off), holding hands in the middle of crowded places thus slowing down traffic (If you want to do that find a park of promenade)...

This also applies to the environment, people litter all over the place despite their being garbage bins nearby, smoke in the middle of a crowd (find  a corner for that)...

If we take into account basic human behaviour and its lack of ethics, how can we expect to change the world for the better. I often hear people complain about the government (global issue here, I'm not targeting any country specifically), but if civilians are not willing to take simple steps to make the public space mutually beneficial to all, how can you expect the government to make them work.  The same applies to pollution, we blame multinationals for their large scale efforts, but daily individual human activity is largely responsible for this as well.  

In other words "Lear How to Walk Before You Talk".

 

[Theda Baratheon]

I don't know if i would place as much importance and doom and gloom in people walking slow but I definitely do get annoyed with it in cities and towns. I have always "walked with a purpose" though lmao. So much so I have been mistaken for working in a couple stores because I've walked with a purpose to where I wanted to go haha. I was complimented by that phrasing though who knows if it was a compliment or not I just wish more people either walked a bit quicker in cities or walked to the sides. I'm contantly having to walk into the road to get around people taking up the whole bloody pavement from the train station walking at a snail's pace when people behind them are getting off the train to go to work...I guess this does sort of indicate a low key lack of awareness for others and selfishness though I wouldn't say it's ruining the world just yet. 

[Ormond]

I think some of these complaints about walking may be a bit selfish.

As for "walking at a snail's pace" -- how do you know that any particular person can comfortably walk faster? And why does that matter? There are plenty of people who have physical conditions that make it difficult for them to walk quickly, and many of those are not obvious to an observer. You don't have to be walking with a cane to be experiencing pain in your ankles or knees in a way that will slow down your walking.

The standing in front of elevators and in the middle of escalator steps is most often the result of being preoccupied with other things and so not paying enough attention to one's environment, which can happen to all of us. It is not usually a matter of being deliberately rude and seems rather overblown to me to say it's a "lack of ethics." Why can't others just say "excuse me" to remind these people to move?

As for complaining about people holding hands -- wow, that seems awfully curmudgeonly to me. Maybe the problem we should be working on in society is to slow down the overly fast pace of modern life so that people aren't in such a rush to get somewhere that they are bothered by having people holding hands on the sidewalk? I often find that people who are in a big hurry are the ones actually most likely to be unintentionally rude because they are not paying attention to how their actions are affecting others around them.

[Fez]

I literally learned how to walk before I started talking*, so I guess I'm good.

Far as other people go, the only thing that drives me nuts is people standing on the left side of escalators or blocking the entrance of exits to escalators. Gotta move people!

*I have no memories of this, but according to my parents I didn't start talking until I was able to do so in complete sentences.

[Ariadne23]

Just now, Fez said:

I literally learned how to walk before I started talking*, so I guess I'm good.

***

*I have no memories of this, but according to my parents I didn't start talking until I was able to do so in complete sentences.

My kiddo is the same & that's what I first thought of when I read this thread title too. So, that's very reassuring.

(Stand on the right!)

[House Balstroko]

7 minutes ago, Ormond said:

I think some of these complaints about walking may be a bit selfish.

As for "walking at a snail's pace" -- how do you know that any particular person can comfortably walk faster? And why does that matter? There are plenty of people who have physical conditions that make it difficult for them to walk quickly, and many of those are not obvious to an observer. You don't have to be walking with a cane to be experiencing pain in your ankles or knees in a way that will slow down your walking.

There are people with legitimate disabilities and i would never berate them for walking slowly, but oftentimes you run into people walking slowly for the sake of it. That becomes obvious when you realize that they are capable of walking faster when they want to.

The standing in front of elevators and in the middle of escalator steps is most often the result of being preoccupied with other things and so not paying enough attention to one's environment, which can happen to all of us. It is not usually a matter of being deliberately rude and seems rather overblown to me to say it's a "lack of ethics." Why can't others just say "excuse me" to remind these people to move?

It's  common sense. when someone is trying to exit an elevator, let him get out and then try to get in, instead of several people trying to get in at the same time. 

As for complaining about people holding hands -- wow, that seems awfully curmudgeonly to me. Maybe the problem we should be working on in society is to slow down the overly fast pace of modern life so that people aren't in such a rush to get somewhere that they are bothered by having people holding hands on the sidewalk? I often find that people who are in a big hurry are the ones actually most likely to be unintentionally rude because they are not paying attention to how their actions are affecting others around them.

I'm not complaining about people holding hands. I'm complaining about them doing so in places where they should be more aware of their surroundings. There are plenty of public spaces where holding hands is a fantastic idea such as a park, a promenade, the beach, a road with little traffic, but most definitely not one where you have hundreds of people around you and space is very tight.  When you hold hands your mind is elsewhere, and you both end up walking in an uncoordinated manner that complicates movement around you.

 

[Arch-MaesterPhilip]

In my experience it's tourists in cities who tend to their time but I get that. Walking on Wall Street is an absolute nightmare because of the tourists photographing the street sign or Trinity Church. I can either avoid it, let it get me angry or deal with it. 

[Theda Baratheon]

Actually fair point Ormond, some people can't comfortably walk as fast as others and I wouldn't need to walk as fast if I left a little earlier but hey no one is perfect lmao 

[Iskaral Pust]

It's a pet peeve of mine because I'm a very fast walker and usually late for something.  I've no problem with people who walk slower or need special consideration to aid their mobility, but people who thoughtlessly block the way for others should be put in stocks in the public square:
- stopping at the exit point of an escalator or revolving door,
- a group walking abreast so that no-one can walk around them or even walk in the opposite direction (especially on stairs),
- walking a wandering dog with a long leash that blocks and trips other pedestrians
- reading a smartphone as you walk slowly & aimlessly, drifting back and forth across the sidewalk so that everyone else has to anticipate and dodge your meandering.

[House Balstroko]

1 minute ago, Iskaral Pust said:

It's a pet peeve of mine because I'm a very fast walker and usually late for something.  I've no problem with people who walk slower or need special consideration to aid their mobility, but people who thoughtlessly block the way for others should be put in stocks in the public square:
- stopping at the exit point of an escalator or revolving door,
- a group walking abreast so that no-one can walk around them or even walk in the opposite direction (especially on stairs),
- walking a wandering dog with a long leash that blocks and trips other pedestrians
- reading a smartphone as you walk slowly & aimlessly, drifting back and forth across the sidewalk so that everyone else has to anticipate and dodge your meandering.

All of these are good points, especially the smartphone one which is becoming more and more prevalent. It the same as with smoking, stand by a corner and text away.

[Theda Baratheon]

8 minutes ago, Iskaral Pust said:

It's a pet peeve of mine because I'm a very fast walker and usually late for something.  I've no problem with people who walk slower or need special consideration to aid their mobility, but people who thoughtlessly block the way for others should be put in stocks in the public square:
- stopping at the exit point of an escalator or revolving door,
- a group walking abreast so that no-one can walk around them or even walk in the opposite direction (especially on stairs),
- walking a wandering dog with a long leash that blocks and trips other pedestrians
- reading a smartphone as you walk slowly & aimlessly, drifting back and forth across the sidewalk so that everyone else has to anticipate and dodge your meandering.

Yeah, these are pretty much my feelings on the subject too. I don't care if it's not a town or a city or a crowded place, but in those types of places, i wish people were a bit more observant of others. i walk very fast but i don't think i'm rude about it...

[House Balstroko]

I appreciate all of your contributions to this thread, but i feel a you are missing the big picture. My original post is about how all these issues affect our ability to progress as a society. If we as a society are unwilling to take basic steps to create a mutually beneficial environment, then how can we except to improve upon global issues.

[Theda Baratheon]

1 minute ago, House Balstroko said:

I appreciate all of your contributions to this thread, but i feel a you are missing the big picture. My original post is about how all these issues affect our ability to progress as a society. If we as a society are unwilling to take basic steps to create a mutually beneficial environment, then how can we except to improve upon global issues.

Yeah, I got that bit. And I addressed it. Just seems a bit overblown and doom and gloom to me. Maybe you might have a point, but it's a bit of a stretch to go from people walking slow in city centres to governments and society as a whole crumbling. 

[House Balstroko]

6 minutes ago, Theda Baratheon said:

Yeah, I got that bit. And I addressed it. Just seems a bit overblown and doom and gloom to me. Maybe you might have a point, but it's a bit of a stretch to go from people walking slow in city centres to governments and society as a whole crumbling. 

i wouldn't go as far as societies crumbling, in fact I'm not even suggesting a direct correlation between the two. it's more about the attitude that comes out of it. If citizens act in a responsible matter, then they will be able to cultivate a strong moral ethic when discussing global issues. 

[zelticgar]

I'd like to give this post a big hug. 

This is such a huge pet peeve of mine. I think what the OP is really getting at here is not so much just about walking. What I think is being identified is the large variance around how we as humans maintain a feel for our environment and use situational awareness in everything we do. I spend a lot of time in urban environments using a variety of transportation modes and I am hyper aware of how my movements affect others. How you walk and where you walk has a lot of downstream effects on the flow of people. Here in the Boston area we see many people who do not understand that they should be walking on the right side of the walkways similar to road traffic. They cause considerable anxiety, and time loss due to not following patterns correctly. I attribute some of this to the large population of students who come from other countries where traffic and walk patterns are different but I also see this behavior with my coworkers who should know better. Most often the reason this occurs is that there is nothing built into people’s brains about being aware of those around you. I'm always thinking about how my movements can optimize the movements of those around me with the ultimate goal of never being an impediment to others. I am not sure why this instinct does not exist in a larger part of the population. Many people exist without being aware of their surroundings and seem to get along in life just fine. I suspect that as a society there is a built in fear of identify this behavior as a negative because it can be assumed that there is some underlying medical issue behind it. This can often be true but if discounts many people who are just simply ignorant uncaring about their surroundings. 

 

[HexMachina]

1 hour ago, Iskaral Pust said:

It's a pet peeve of mine because I'm a very fast walker and usually late for something.  I've no problem with people who walk slower or need special consideration to aid their mobility, but people who thoughtlessly block the way for others should be put in stocks in the public square:
- stopping at the exit point of an escalator or revolving door,
- a group walking abreast so that no-one can walk around them or even walk in the opposite direction (especially on stairs),
- walking a wandering dog with a long leash that blocks and trips other pedestrians
- reading a smartphone as you walk slowly & aimlessly, drifting back and forth across the sidewalk so that everyone else has to anticipate and dodge your meandering.

Or the people that almost every day without fail dither around in front of not one or two, but four or five ticket barriers to get off/on the tube. Either have your tickets prepared or move off to one side, it's not difficult.

Also, not standing on the right really is infuriating. And in my experience their being "preoccupied" with other things is usually because they are stood talking to someone, which can still be done if stood on the right. And they quite often look annoyed with me if I say excuse me. Garrrrr.

 

*written while fresh off the tube and in the grips of tube rage. Would likely be a bit more tolerant any other time.

[zelticgar]

10 minutes ago, HelenaExMachina said:

Or the people that almost every day without fail dither around in front of not one or two, but four or five ticket barriers to get off/on the tube. Either have your tickets prepared or move off to one side, it's not difficult.

Also, not standing on the right really is infuriating. And in my experience their being "preoccupied" with other things is usually because they are stood talking to someone, which can still be done if stood on the right. And they quite often look annoyed with me if I say excuse me. Garrrrr.

 

*written while fresh off the tube and in the grips of tube rage. Would likely be a bit more tolerant any other time.

We have security cards that require us to scan into the lobby area. I sometime follow people all the way from the parking garage to the lobby and once they get to the card scanner they have to pause to start digging through their bag to find their access card. It's about a 4 minute walk from the garage to the entrance and at no point did they consider they should have their card ready. Must be nice going through life like that.  

[Theda Baratheon]

I'm always hyper aware of other people around me as well...I find want to be a burden on anyone or annoy anyone so I try to be as considerate as I can

[Isis]

I almost missed a train home tonight because a couple, walking side by side up the steps onto the platform slowed down to a crawl as the neared the top of the flight so as they could stare around them, blocking anyone else from getting into the platform. Zero concern for anyone's needs.

I am embossed reminded a little of Lynn Truss (author of Eats, Shoots and Leaves) here, who wrote an article about 'making public spaces private'. It's something that stayed with me. I think it's true that people do this more and more - they behave as if they are in their own homes when they are in shared public spaces: they have very loud personal phone conversations, blare music from their shitty Apple headphones, or even play music straight out of their phone without headphones, they sing, they occupy way more space than they need, they vape every-bloody-where, they eat strong smelling foods, and leave their litter behind for someone else to pick up.

We have laws about littering in the UK. I don't know why they aren't enforced, seems like a simple way to make some money out of people behaving badly. I honestly cannot imagine just dropping an empty can on the floor of a bus then getting off, yet I see small children travelling with their parents do it. The parents say nothing. Clearly, the whole floor is just one big bin to them. 

 

[Theda Baratheon]

3 minutes ago, Isis said:

I almost missed a train home tonight because a couple, walking side by side up the steps onto the platform slowed down to a crawl as the neared the top of the flight so as they could stare around them, blocking anyone else from getting into the platform. Zero concern for anyone's needs.

I am embossed reminded a little of Lynn Truss (author of Eats, Shoots and Leaves) here, who wrote an article about 'making public spaces private'. It's something that stayed with me. I think it's true that people do this more and more - they behave as if they are in their own homes when they are in shared public spaces: they have very loud personal phone conversations, blare music from their shitty Apple headphones, or even play music straight out of their phone without headphones, they sing, they occupy way more space than they need, they vape every-bloody-where, they eat strong smelling foods, and leave their litter behind for someone else to pick up.

We have laws about littering in the UK. I don't know why they aren't enforced, seems like a simple way to make some money out of people behaving badly. I honestly cannot imagine just dropping an empty can on the floor of a bus then getting off, yet I see small children travelling with their parents do it. The parents say nothing. Clearly, the whole floor is just one big bin to them. 

 

Aye. I hate littering. People just leaving their rubbish anywhere when there are BINS RIGHT OUTSIDE....people leaving coffee cups and crisp packets on train seats when every train station has BINS!!! I don't get it!!