I came up with an amazing idea the other night after Jim and I enjoyed an evening at the theater. As we slowly worked our way towards the door to exit the building, we had to continually halt our pace and switch directions to avoid running into the folks who decided it was okay to stop and chat directly in the path of thousands of people who just wanted to get home. It was the worst, of course, right outside the doors on the sidewalk.
My idea? Install moving sidewalks in all of those public places where this happens on a regular basis.
Okay, I know my idea is ridiculous and not feasible in the least, but you have to admit that it looks good in your imagination, doesn’t it?
The way people stop traffic like that has always been one of my biggest pet peeves. More information: my natural stride is fairly quick in relation to that of others, and I’ve spent a lifetime trying to exercise patience where that is concerned. It’s easier now that I’m older. The stopping thing, though? NO. Just no.
I’m not sure if people have generally been neglectful all along when it comes to the awareness of the space they take up in the world or if it’s recently gotten worse like so many other things, but I have some more grievances.
Last week I spent a couple of hours in a hospital waiting room and here are a couple of offenses that could have been avoided had the people in question considered the people around them:
- Someone loudly FaceTimed someone else, not for a quick call but one that was in excess of ten minutes. WHY?
- Ringers were left on high volume, and one person kept getting calls without turning off the ringer. WHY?
- Someone was on the phone, loudly providing gross medical (and poopy) details about a loved one. WHY?
Let’s do better, everyone. If you’re walking in a crowd that resembles a herd of cows trying to get out of two sets of double doors, please keep mooving. (See what I did there?) If you’re in a waiting room of any kind and need to be on the phone to pass along details about a loved one or for any other reason that will keep you on for more than a quick minute, please leave the area. Please put your phone on vibrate. These are all simple things.
Am I feeling especially crabby about etiquette today? Apparently. But please, I beg of you, help me make this world a better place. I want to hear more stories of people paying for others’ Starbucks and people holding doors and people being generally considerate of others in every way possible. We can do this. I know it.
What are your grievances? Leave ’em here!