‘Excuse me’ - NO!

[TheRightHonerable]

Surely ‘excuse me’ is what you say when somebody is blocking your path and you need to jump past? It means stepping to the side for a second and then continuing what you were doing.

DH and I went to our cities Christmas market last weekend. It’s popular and busy but also quite unavoidable for residents as in the same streets as the banks/normal everyday shops.

I was honestly floored by the amount of times people said ‘excuse me’ ...then when I stepped out to let them pass, they just took my place to look at the items I had been looking at!! That’s not ‘excuse me’- Thats ‘get out of my way!!’ AIBU?

I pointed this out to a woman whilst I was crammed into a right angle of shelves in M&S, no through route and people either side of me.

Her: Excuse me
Me: Sorry, there’s no room.
Her: I just want to grab some cards
Me: holding 2 packs of cards in the 3 for 2 offer and clearly choosing my third ... Then wait until I’m finished grabbing my cards instead of expecting me to get out of your way!

She huffed and disappeared. No doubt thinking I was the one being rude 🤔

My SIL and DB went into town this weekend and said the exact same happened to them all day! People seeming like they wanted to get past but then just took their place the moment they moved. I think I’m going to have to stop being so Accomodating/polite in future as it honestly wound me up so badly.

Loos identified for disabled mean just that it has been coveted to facilitate a person with a disability. Able bodied persons can also use them too. They are not for use solely by disabled persons.

Yes, very well used way of giving and indication to someone you are intending to do,say or ask something. Using excuse me should be qualified by saying in the instance posted
'excuse me can I move in front of you to see the cards'? Hence being able to reply No. In your instance yes very polite saying please but the person has to be informed why, - excuse me can I pass you please?

In supermarket I had a lady squash me up against the shampoo shelf with her trolley whilst I was trying to look myself. I moved to the side and she took my space and made it impossible for me to look at anything at all

Today 22:18 manicmij

Loos identified for disabled mean just that it has been coveted to facilitate a person with a disability. Able bodied persons can also use them too. They are not for use solely by disabled persons.

I didn’t know that. I always felt I would be told off for using them - like a disabled space. Obvs wouldnt park in disabled anyway

I prefer excuse me please

Or when you say it because you do just want to get past and they refuse to move.

I’ve found that “beep beep” works better in supermarkets than “excuse me”!!

At least you get an "excuse me". I'm of petite short arse stature and people find it far easier to just barge and shove me out of the way.

People are often put out when it transpires that my small frame doesn't also equal a small voice. I've had to learn to have fire in my belly after years of being treated as invisible and irrelevant.

YANBU. Poor manners is a scourge on society at the moment and this time of year brings them all out of the woodwork. I'm determined to have all my xmas shopping done by this weekend. This kind of crap ruins the lead up to xmas for me.

In fact, I've just been in Poundland and witnessed an old man with a stick give a young woman with a double buggy a right earful for "getting in a disabled persons way with that f*cking contraption!" I wanted to applauded her when she barked back "well where do you want me to go, do you want me to smash my way through the bloody shelves?!"

The shop is tight, it was busy, this woman had twins, I'm sure this man expects her to balance her babies on her head when out shopping!

Poor woman got some awful stares for daring to defend herself, but good manners isn't just for the able bodied

I've noticed it a lot recently in the supermarket. I'll be grabbing something and someone just cannot wait 5 seconds for their turn

If someone can't either wait their turn or use their manners to speak to me, human to human, you can be damn sure I will take as long as humanly possible to do what I am doing. I don't care what the MN jury makes of me.

nowadays it seems people feel entitled to walk 3-4 a breast and refuse to move

If I see 2- or 3-abreast walkers like this, I just stand still, feet braced, & make them go round me. I'm only 5'2" but I'm muscly and they always look surprised if they barge and it sends them spinning not me.

If I see 2- or 3-abreast walkers like this, I just stand still, feet braced, & make them go round me. I'm only 5'2" but I'm muscly and they always look surprised if they barge and it sends them spinning not me.

Same here, happens a lot on the canal towpath I use to walk to work every day. I used to move to the verge to let them past, but so few even acknowledged me, let alone said thanks, so now I just stand still and make them go into single file or walk on the verge. Such selfish, entitled behaviour.

Christmas madness. Car parking turns insane, roads are mental people turn in to rude versions of themselves

I just avoid the town centres/shopping centres from around now to after Christmas. I used to go shopping mid December, or even a couple of days before Christmas, but it is such a horrible experience, I do everything I can long in advance now, usually late November. All I need to do is food shopping for fresh produce, and to do that I'll usually go early/mid morning before all the lunatics are let loose. I find it really pleasant staying home or doing some leisure activity for the couple of weekends before Christmas - so much more relaxing than having to deal with other people.

YANBU happens to me all the time, drives me crazy. I do get a bit annoyed however, if someone is taking an extraordinarily long time looking at something with me stuck behind, and then doesn't buy anything, but I keep it buttoned, lol.

Not sure where you're based OP but when I first moved to London 10 years ago, one of the first big things I noticed was the rudeness of the public in shops. The big thing that really bugs me is when people stand in the middle of an aisle so that it's impossible to get by on either side of them, and then lack either the manners or the awareness to simply take a small step one way or the other so that other people can get past. The other thing is standing still in shop doorways so that other people can't get in or out. Just take a few steps in or out! And the other one is people who don't say "excuse me" at all: they just walk up to you and stare at you, expecting you to move out of their way. And then there's the loud chatters at gigs and plays and concerts. People just seem rude and wrapped up in themselves now. It can be infuriating.