Selfish Cow Blocking Pavement So She Can Talk To Her Mate

[MysticMeghan]

Went out for a walk this evening as I generally do after finishing work. Went a different way tonight, it's a busy road leading to the town centre, it's a busy four lane dual carriageway with a barrier in the middle and pedestrian crossing points, but the bit where I was walking doesn't have any crossing points. It's a series of old cottages with front doors opening direct onto the pavement. The pavement is quite wide but because the people who live there have nowhere to park, quite often cars are parked on the pavement.

As I'm walking down I can see a young woman standing on the pavement. Her mate has parked up on the pavement and the passenger door is open, the woman is standing blocking the pavement leaning down and chatting to her mate through the open door. This is Scotland so being able to meet people outside who aren't from your household doesn't start until next week, but as is usual most people have been ignoring this pretty much since lockdown started. I don't really mind unless it impacts me directly and from the look of it, this is going to be one of those occasions.

She can see me walking down the pavement but makes no attempt to move. As I squeeze by just touching her I say “2 metres”. She turns round and points to her friend in the car and says “but we work together”. Like that makes it ok.

So I stop and say, “not HER, what about ME? You’re blocking the pavement, you saw me coming, you made no attempt to get out of the way”. And she says “Just walk in the road”. Several cars whizz past. The speed limit is 40 and they come round a blind corner at that point. Not ideal. And I said, “You want me to walk in road on a busy dual carriageway just so you can chat to your mate?"

So she says “stop making a fuss, it’s just the flu”. I am very afraid to say that at that point I called her a nasty selfish c*nt. She and her mate were laughing and jeering as I walked down the road. I am still very angry but glad I stood up for myself.

I really don't care whether people want to bent the rules to suit themselves as long as I am not involved. I don't want to get up close to anyone right now but I'm not going to stay indoors when I am allowed to go out for a walk. I won't be going that way again, but I do think that even without Coronavirus people do have the right to be able to walk down a pavement near a busy road and not tiptoe around others so they can enjoy a social life with their mates.

AIBU?

[OfUselessBooks]

No, I find this really annoying too, it's just common courtesy. When there were all of the ve day parties, two houses down our street (opposite each other), were having a socially distanced party, outside their own house, but unfortunately were on the pavement outside their own houses and we had to walk down the middle of the road to keep away from them. So annoying and I'd have felt exactly the same as you.

[Redolent]

It doesn’t matter if it’s unlikely that you’ll catch the virus that way. The risk isn’t nonexistent and she was selfishly inconsiderate.

Your rudeness was ott though

[Sadie789]

@peonypower said it perfectly.

I am SO tired of all this petty local stasi nonsense.

Just walk past them and get on with your day.

[MysticMeghan]

Let's leave aside the virus thing. So I should have walked in the road so I didn't disturb their little chat? That's what you're saying? Or walked back half a mile to find a crossing point?

[MysticMeghan]

Just to clarify here. There was so little space on the pavement that we literally were touching. I think we are all entitled to a little bit of personal space. And pavements ARE for walking on, not for parking on. I still would have been annoyed if this had happened back in January. I am entitled to use the pavement. It is a public right of way.

[FleurNancy]

I can't get my head round why if you were prepared to make a passive aggressive comment and then go on call her a cunt, you didn't just stop and and say excuse me so you could pass?!?

[antisocialdistance]

She could have been more considerate but the chances of you getting coronavirus from walking past her, or being hit by a car when ducking into the road for 5 seconds are virtually zero so probably not worth the aggravation you have invested in it.

Next time just say "Scuse me, could I get a bit more room please?" and be done with it.

[Fairenuff]

She was standing on the pavement and she was there first.

You walked into her 2m space.

Or did you think you had more right to that piece of pavement than her?

[nzborn]

l support you.we have rules that will get us through this.
unfortunately social distancing means to a lot of people you get out of my way.
l find it most stressful leaving the house to volunteer and after loved ones only to come across people who have no problem inconveniencing others and then blast people like your self for speaking out.
l hope you and your loved ones get through this situation.

[MysticMeghan]

I usually DO say excuse me, particularly, if someone is looking the other way and not aware that I am trying to get past. But she calmly watched me walk down and just stood there. I sort of stopped before I went past her and she just looked at me. So yes, I could have been a bit more polite but then I suppose you could argue so could she. She wasn't unaware that I was trying to get past. She just expected me to walk in the road. She actually said so. So I doubt being nice and polite would have made the slightest difference.

I am generally a law abiding person. But I go for a walk every day and I am getting a bit tired of being the person who always steps in the puddle or waits for the other person. I accept that the chances of catching Coronavirus from walking past someone is very unlikely. But that doesn't automatically make it ok for everyone to just ignore social distancing because it isn't effective.

I don't actually like paying taxes. But if we all stopped paying taxes because we didn't feel the money was being spent wisely or because we felt they were too high then how exactly would we fund public services? What you're basically saying is that if we are asked to do something then if we don't think it's necessary then we don't need to do it. Period. So when the person in front of meat Tesco walks out without paying then I guess that's ok if he doesn't feel like it.

[lljkk]

life is too short for this shit.

[MysticMeghan]

She was standing on the pavement and she was there first.

You walked into her 2m space.

Or did you think you had more right to that piece of pavement than her?

There would have been more than enough room on both of us to give each other sufficient room and for me NOT to have walked into her 2m space that she was already occupying if her friend hadn't parked on the pavement. Parking on pavements isn't in itself illegal at present, but blocking pavements with open car doors IS because a pavement is a public right of way.

If she wouldn't move, I couldn't cross the road and cars were preventing me from walking around the car then perhaps I should have stood there politely and waited for her to finish her conversation. I'll remember that next time.

[lljkk]

.

[Redolent]

OP you are overthinking this and clearly have anxiety issues.

[TheGinGenie]

Another one thinking you should just let it go OP. We're all navigating this weird world together and I'm finding it a lot easier to handle by forgiving people for not being perfect (not you, Cummings)

[Defenbaker]

OP, I understand your frustration, the woman was thoughtless and I've encountered many people like her, on my daily walks.

Truth be told, it's unlikely you would catch the virus from walking past somebody at close quarters, but it's not just about that, it's the fact that people will happily block a pavement and expect you to walk out into a busy rosd, rather than cause them any inconvenience. Some people are just ignorant.

I often have an internal swearfest going on in my head when I encounter such behaviour, but I resist saying the words out loud. In the grand scheme of things, it's not worth getting in a lather about it, and possibly ending up in a violent situation just because someone is thoughtlessly blocking a pavement. It's maddening but try to stay calm and move past them quickly, because if you go into battle with every ignorant person you come across, it will just make you miserable.

[Moondust001]

Sorry - I think you were ignorant and needlessly aggressive. "Excuse me" would have been all that was needed. You were patronising and passive / aggressive. I wouldn't have moved either if you spoke to me like that.

[Gingerkittykat]

There's a lot of this going around. First the thread about stupid people in corner shops and now this.

[Barbie222]

Neither of you covered yourself in glory. And I would be pissed off if someone said "2 metres" instead of "Excuse me", too.

[coldlighthappier]

Don’t get how some people think this woman was in the right. She should have moved out the way, you shouldn’t have had to ask her to or walk in the road. You should have reminded her of the 2m rule as she clearly is uneducated on the whole issue

[Hillocrew]

No need for the dramatics. At all

[missingmum]

Firstly is not YOUR pavement, it's a public footpath / road / pavement and a simple excuse me would have been fine. Yes, she sounded selfish but we are all to a certain extent, this really is becoming very oppressive.

[indemMUND]

She was a cunt, and a selfish one at that. Entitled and fuck everyone else. The rules may be guidelines which are aren't being enforced but the "I'm alright Jack" mentality so heavily prevalent is pathetic. Wouldn't have hurt them to sweep themselves sideways for a couple of seconds.

[Artesia]

I think you massively overreacted. You say yourself chances of you catching it from walking past someone are minimal, so what was it that made you quite so angry that you called her a c*nt?