Was I rude?

If someone steps aside for you, it’s polite to say thank you. I think that’s what she was referring to.

To be honest, the British are very apologetic even when they’ve done nothing wrong. It would’ve been normal to say sorry and wait for her to pass or make room. It could have been interpreted as rude yes.

Did you thank her or if you did, did she hear you thank you? She let you go first so she didn’t need to thank you, so by her thanking you is a passive aggressive way people tend to respond if they don’t get a thank you.

@OlyaR , yes you were rude. Good manners involves having consideration for others, you showed that poor woman none.

You were rude not to thank her, I expect that's why she commented.

Very rude sounds like you forced her to walk in the road by not stopping to allow her to get past the buggy. You should have stopped not just carry on like she didn’t exist

But you said that you didn't wait? So, did she? If neither of you waited and she didn't go into the road, I'm not following the scenario.

I continued my walk, didn't mean to stop because you can easily make one step left to the road which is always empty and overtake if you're in such a hurry. ( this is a side residential street) So I suppose that the woman wanted me to stop and wait till she go first

Yes you should have stopped to let her pass safely. It’s rude to force people into the road. She was also rude though.

It would have been best to slow down, if she then stepped into the road, it would be polite to thank her. If you just ploughed on without acknowledging that she had stepped aside, yes it was rude.

Sounds like you were both rude - you by not stopping so she could pass and her reaction.

No, I don't think so. And calling you a "rude girl" is incredibly rude of her anyway.

IMO if you are both walking towards each other and there isn't room for both of you, the person that gets there first should go and the other should stand and wait, or step into the road if safe/they are able. The person that went should acknowledge the other person for waiting/diverting and thank them. It sounds like that's what happened here?

I think the lady's age is definitely relevant. There is a 'respect your elders' attitude in this country and it may well be that the lady expected OP to stand and wait with the pram to give way to her because she is older.

When you have a pram taking up most of the pavement and a parent with the (potential) attitude they are going to ram it into you, some people get a bit miffed with that. Absolutely not should you have been expected to go on the road, but a slow down and an attempt at a shuffle into the side, as opposed to your approach according to your post which was you didn't slow down and made no attempt to move. Would I have commented, nope. Would I have been internally thinking you were entitled- probably.

Yes but she didn't slow down or make space on a narrow pavement. That's not cool.

My understanding was that OP Did thank them.

Yes rude.

If you come to the UK then you need to respect everyone in it and not force the elderly into the road

Forcing someone in to a road regardless of their age or if it's a quiet road is rude if you don't say something like thank you or some acknowledgement as you pass

You were rude. I really hate it when people expect you to step into the road or into the mud for them with no acknowledgement you even exist. Another one is when you’re trying to exit a supermarket and people don’t let you out before they charge in.

you can easily make one step left to the road which is always empty and overtake if you're in such a hurry.

And you could have easily made some effort to acknowledge her, or were you in such a hurry? 🙄

If it was a narrow pavement you should have slowed down. Or stopped if very narrow (I'm not sure now narrow, you mentioned walking in the road). But less than room for two Inc buggy to pass with with plenty of space clearly.

People can have invisible or minor mobility, vision or balance issues and you should be the one allowing them time to make space for you rather than going full speed.

I know you didn't intend it but you were the rude one from what you describe. No harm done. You said thanks. Live and learn.

If you’d looked at her and made any kind of polite gesture as she came towards you, you wouldn’t have ended up baffled by her comments.

It is rude to assume that anyone will step aside for you, and that’s what you did. If she hadn’t stepped aside, she’d have been rammed by your pushchair and you had as much responsibility to avoid that happening as she did.

If you thanked her she's very rude. Some people are.

So you effectively forced her to step into the road to avoid being hit by your buggy.

Yes rude and very entitled.

OP's first account makes no mention of her thanking the woman, just that "I wasn't going to stop" and carried on walking forward and the woman had to step to one side and wait on the pavement, then made her "rude girl" comment presumably as OP had not acknowledged her at all, despite causing her to wait.

Majority of posters then said OP was rude to some degree. OP conceded in a later post that she could/should have made eye contact. Later still OP claims that she did in fact thank the woman. Sorry OP, I don't believe you! Why did you add that bit in so late? And it would make no sense for her to call you rude girl if you had said thank you?

I suggest if you are so sensitive about people thinking you are rude, that you try behaving less ... rudely?

Are you Eastern European by any chance, OP? I know it's a different culture where a lot of please/thank you/would you mind/you're welcome is seen as pointless and affected. But it's different in the UK (though we have some rude people here too). You gotta play the game!

I think the thing to take away from it is that what you did was perceived as rude, even though you had no intention of being rude. So she didn’t feel that her comment was unfair and she probably didn’t care that you found it rude, because she thought you’d been rude first. And if you do it again to someone else, they will probably think you are rude as well.

So you can either ignore the vast majority of people on the thread, keep doing it and keep being shocked that people are making rude comments to you, or you can accept that it’s perceived as rudeness, even if it doesn’t seem rude to you, so not do it again and instead exchange smiles and a ‘good morning’ with people you encounter. Do you want people to call you rude names? Or do you want them to be nice to you?