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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

About pressing the button at crossings!

109 replies

Melysia · 13/05/2012 22:36

Hello all, I don't often write anything on here just browse but one thing has been pissing me off for ages. I want others opinions or rather some fellow ranters!

Just to say that I swear...a lot..so if your of a nervous disposition, which I doubt most of you are at this time of night, then don't read!

The basis of my rant is this.

Your stood at the lights ready to cross the road. You press the button to cross, the little lights around the button light up, indicating that you've pressed the button. Some fucker either on the other side or on the same side, which happened to me the other day, comes along and presses the sodding button.

Ok, it's really petty, but it's happened so many times I'm starting to seeth and get anxious when the effing person comes along and presses the button.

What the fuck do they think you've been waiting for?

"Hey nob sock, I'm not counting cars, I'm waiting to cross the fucking road".

The straw that broke..no scrap that...the wrecking ball that obliterated the camel and smashed through the whole of the fucking sahara was when I was stood right next to the button the other day. Some bloody school girl comes along right next to me and looks right in my face and presses the button. OH MY GOD, I could have gone all drunken master on that girl. What's wrong with people? Why do you have to press the button, leave it alone. It's been pressed, just look at it. It's lit up like a fucking light house. The lights don't change any quicker just wait like anyone else.

OP posts:

AmazingBouncingFerret · 14/05/2012 08:04

OCD?

knowitallstrikesagain · 14/05/2012 08:08

YABU because it makes no difference to traffic or pedestrians, time wise.

What is really really really really really annoying is the parents who get across the road and then let their little precious press the button again before heading off to their destination, thereby stopping traffic again 30 seconds later. I HATE these parents.

NakedButNotFamous · 14/05/2012 08:34

When i was young, I used to think that the more you pressed it, the faster it would change because the sensor would think there was loads of people waiting to cross so I would repeatedly press it. Was shocked when I found out it wasn't true

Get0rfMoiLand · 14/05/2012 09:06

I like ignoring the buttons completely and crossing on a red .

This is especially satisfying to do in London where groups of tourists look horrified at the idea of someone jaywalking.

Saving those 2.6 seconds of time makes my day.

It also makes me feel like a power suited woman in a 80s ad for insurance or something who stalked across the street holding her hand aloft to stop all traffic, accompanied by stirring music.

QuintessentialShadows · 14/05/2012 09:09

Melysia.

STEP AWAY FROM THE BUTTON.

Go stand on the other side (of the zebra crossing, not the road of course), if you are of such a nervous disposition that you can not handle crossing the road without getting into a tizz.

Any other difficult situations where you feel you are not in control and about to lose your rag?

GreenEggsAndNichts · 14/05/2012 09:55

pff I still remember taking the train to Gatwick and arriving to find a massive crowd of mumbling people (20-30 of them) waiting for the lift. I stood patiently with everyone for at least 5 minutes, as I had two large suitcases and didn't have another option of getting upstairs. Time passed and people were wondering if it was out of service, etc. I pushed through and pressed the button. The thing lit up and everyone had a good laugh. I think the first couple arrived, didn't push the button, and everyone else after them had just assumed that they had.

Not the same as the OP story but it reminded me of it.

TandB · 14/05/2012 09:59

YADNBU

This is one of those utterly irrational, completely irrelevant things that really irritates me.

Not so much someone pressing it once when it is already lit up, but when someone comes and stands there with their finger on it and presses it over and over and over again. It makes me positively murderous!

And the same thing in lifts.

But not as bad as when people press the up and down button when waiting for a lift so you stop unnecessarily on their floor and then they say "oh, you're going down" in in accusing voice as though they thought they could choose to divert the lift by pressing both buttons.

And breathe.....

ramblinrose · 14/05/2012 10:00

What a silly thing to get so angry about!

HecateTrivia · 14/05/2012 10:02

YABtotallyU and I agree with you It annoys the crap out of me. It's petty and pointless and it STILL annoys me.

I think people really do think that pressing the button over and over does in fact make the lights turn faster.

OneLastSoul · 14/05/2012 10:16

This reply has been deleted

Message deleted by MNHQ. Here's a link to our Talk Guidelines.

GingerBlondecat · 14/05/2012 10:45

(I' ve only read the OP.)

I like to stand there and constantly press the bloody button. very satisfying

MarysBeard · 14/05/2012 10:53

I think it's a stupid thing to be angry about. Especially as with some crossings the light is very faint, or if the sun is quite bright, it's really hard to tell if the button has been pressed. Pressing the button again is a lot less stupid that standing there for ages while no-one has pressed the button - that has happened to me in London, when a tourist didn't realise what the system was.

DeWe · 14/05/2012 10:55

My db had a theory that if he pressed the button at a certain point it would change instantly. So we'd stand at the side of the road for 5 minutes until it was clear both ways and then he'd press the button and it was changed straight away.

He wouldn't have it that this particular one was a "newfangled" smart one, it was set up to change immediately if both ways were clear. However if it wasn't clear in about 2 minutes it would change anyway. So his method never got you there quicker, and usually was slow.

Pendeen · 14/05/2012 11:53

With Pendeen's patented new Pelican Puffin Toucan Budgie crossing, the button turns red after the first push and then, when anyone else tries to push it gives the stern loudspeaker warning "Danger! Do not push". Anyone that does gets a gentle 400 volts through their fingertips!

Poulay · 14/05/2012 12:37

What a bunch of loons.

We've got new-fangled crossings in two different designs and it looks like they've been pressed when they haven't.

Also some people don't press the button, for whatever reason. Quite annoying.

2rebecca · 14/05/2012 12:38

Waste of energy to get upset about it. Some people like pressing buttons. It's not about you, don't take it personally.

lynniep · 14/05/2012 12:44

well I ALWAYS pressed the button at the euston road/tott court road traffic lights when I worked in London, no matter how many people were stood there. Because no-one else bothered. Everyone just stood there like lemons waiting for something to happen. So I pressed the button - and hey presto!!

Nevertooearlyforcake · 14/05/2012 12:50

You're all wrong about button pressing making the lights change. My DD informs me that the only way to make it happen is to twiddle with the bolt underneath. She's 5 so knows everything

NoOnesGoingToEatYourEyes · 14/05/2012 12:57

I've stood there at the crossing, thinking the person next to me has already pressed the button and then it turns out that they haven't, they were waiting for the lights to change by divine intervention or the power of thought or something.

So I press the button regardless now, just to make sure.

Original poster

Melysia · 15/05/2012 11:21

Kids can press the button all they want I have kids they like to press the button. I can't stand it when some tits stood there not pressing the button. All you have to do is look and it says WAIT or the little lights are red around the button. I also can't stand cocks in lifts that go up when you want to go down. If you don't give a fuck even if you had a thousand fucks to give why bother commenting, you do give a fuck. Yes it's petty I know it is, we all know it is. Trouble is the general public are shits and they piss me off from time to time.

OP posts:

nightowl05 · 10/05/2014 04:29

I know this thread is dead. But I have to agree, the button doesn't need to be pressed if it already is. And it's not a selfish I-got-the-button-first-so-nobody-else-gets-it.. I'm fine without pressing it if I get to the crossing and someone has already done it. It just implies that we're all stupid enough to wait at a crossing without knowing what the button is for and just waiting there forever. I'm amazed by how many adults feel the need to violate that little button when it's evidently been pressed and we're all going to get our turn to cross.

WandaDoff · 10/05/2014 04:35

I was going to say how fucking fantastic it was to see so many familiar posters

Then I realised it was a 2yr old thread. [quitesadactually]

BigRedBall · 10/05/2014 05:24

Omg I've posted on this thread with an old nn! Boring thread or what?!

goldopals · 10/05/2014 05:35

I once made about fifty people miss the opportunity to cross a road. I was the first person at the crossing and forgot to press the button and every other person assumed that I had pressed it.

Valpollicella · 10/05/2014 05:37

wanda, same!

especially as it is exactly two years old! oh well.

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