AIBU - commuter rage

True other than the bottom (or top) of an escalator. That’s incredibly dangerous so yes people absolutely need to move out the way in that situation.

WFH all the way

Can I add one?

I stopped wearing heels when my commute got a LOT longer. (2hrs one way). Wearing heels slows me down and adds an extra 15 mins to that 2hrs.

So I'll be bloody damned if I am going to get stuck behind someone who is wearing heels and end up walking at a high-heels pace anyway!! arrrghhh!

I deliberately get up super early on my office days to avoid commuter rush hour.
It is still busy (with people like me I suppose) but I always get a seat and we all know what we're doing, no loud calls or tiktok videos, and especially no fannying about with tickets and phones like in your OP. Makes the commute a breeze.

I wonder why more people don't do it, but at the same time I tell nobody for fear of our little secret getting out!

There are recognised times when there's likely to be a large number of commuters going into London; this is reflected by the large increase in cost of you want to travel during the morning rush hour. Not as bad in the mornings, probably because of the costs, but people actually planning to leave town during the rush hour when they aren't time constrained by most commuters is pure thoughtlessness.

Those saying to get a train at a different time, apart from constraints like dropping children off in the mornings or collecting them by a certain time at night, there's still many many organisations who have mandatory attendance times. Yes you could get into town for 7am - then spend 2 hours wandering around until it's time to start. No point in getting going early at work, as you aren't going to be allowed to leave until 5 or 5:30pm anyway. In that kind of environment the only way to avoid the rush hours is to spend around 13-14 hours out every day (depending on the length of the commute). Basically completing your trip in by around 7:30, and not leaving your workplace until after 6pm at the earliest, with an hour commute each way that's 6:30am to 7:30pm out of the house.

Add a tube journey in, and you need to leave plenty of contingency time to get to the station to ensure you don't miss your once an hour train home.

Loads of sympathy with the OP, I find it REALLY hard to walk at any one else’s pace.

Obviously I know the world can’t walk
as fast as me but it’s so frustrating to walk slow when you want to bustle.

True, point taken.

Other people can be annoying but it’s not their fault or problem that your commute is on a tight timescale.

When I commented to London people used tomleave the train in a huge gaggle and anyone dawdling would be scooped up with the flow … this was getting on for 30 years ago though

I mean, this is just the reality of commuting in London. It’s busy and annoying. Everyone thinks they’re the only one being courteous and it’s everyone else that’s the problem but I bet they and you have done at least one of these behaviours in the past and annoyed everyone else in the same way they annoy you

There is a third option here - that the "chill, leave earlier" people do completely understand all those obligations but don't see them as a valid reason to be 'raging' at anyone else.

If your commute is so tight that it depends on you rushing through the station such that you're raging at anyone else who's slower than you, the reasonable response is not to carry on raging, it's to change something about your schedule.

I agree with this.

The "Chill. Leave earlier" people are either unable to imagine that not everyone has only themselves to accommodate, or deliberately obtuse.

I used to leave at 5am pre kids but was lucky that there was nothing stopping me starting work at or before 7am and finishing correspondingly early - doing this with young/ youngish children requires a second parent taking the hit of leaving later every day.

On the way home it's hard to "chill" if missing your train will mean being late to collect children.

Children are the most obvious commitment but plenty of people have other time sensitive unavoidable commitments and don't have flexibility to start very early and finish very early to allow for missing a train. Plenty of jobs, notably in healthcare, don't accomodate a chilled attitude to leaving early.

Yep, and I used to find myself angry and flustered before I even got to work. I don’t miss it!

The fact that they are frequently clueless, entitled, and generally annoying does not detract from tourists' economic value. They are a necessary evil, like roadworks.

I agree with you, it is infuriating. But the only thing you can control is yourself.

Is it a longer, not TFL train you're getting? I don't commute in London but I do sometimes need to go to Manchester - I can either get the train that should get me in by 9 and be 5 mins late - which has never, ever been less than 20 mins btw - or I have to go in an hour earlier which obviously then I have a much earlier start. It's a sacrifice I make in the hope that because I'm getting off earlier, I can therefore get home earlier too.

Of course that train home is most often cancelled so I end up getting the later one anyway <eyeroll> all for the low-low price of just one £20 daily ticket!

That was a lot of waffle to say - any chance you could shift and get an earlier or maybe even a later train? Understandable if you can't, but knowing how absolutely wild with fury I can get when I'm delayed by other people it might do wonders for your state of mind starting your day!

Wow, what a horrible post.

Anyone rushing and angry - be it on foot, on saddle, in cars, using public transport - annoys me. Just chill out and share the space, and adjust your schedule

Agree with this.

I commute three days a week into London, which involves bus, train and tube and takes me 1.5hrs. I'm sure people like you have described exist, but I can't say I really notice that much.

It sounds like you're very stressed and your commute is too tight to be done realistically without such stress.

I hated this so much I used to get to my desk for 8am instead of 9am- it was much quieter on the tube- you are in no danger of being late,it worked for me, i even got a seat some of the time.

Communting to London for 9.30 is still a nightmare, I’ve done it for the past 14 years! OP might not be able to get an earlier train. Many people are dropping kids to nursery/breakfast club/childminder so you are oftem constrained to those hours. My commute was tight for years because of this.

I agree with you op. But what enrages me even more is the people telling you to chill! Was there ever a more infuriating phrase to say to someone who is venting their spleen?!

edited to say I didn’t mean to specifically quote the post above. You are not the worst offender 😁

rushing everywhere , being busy all the time , these are signs of failure to me , signs of being in the rat trap , so I have little sympathy for you

i mean I can’t stand how slow some people do walk and wish they were slightly more self aware , but they have as much right as me to go at a pace that suits them. Hastening is not morally better

Yanbu. I commute to London and all of these annoy me too.

Scrolling without headphones/speakerphone calls are by the far the biggest bugbear though. So utterly selfish.