Ignorant people

[Patatopotato]

What is with people having no manners or spatial awareness these days?

Just out of work and walking along the road (busy city centre with traffic so not option to just walk into road) approach 4 men in suits taking up the whole footpath.

Not one attempt to make a gap for me (or anyone else to get past) so I, quite rightly in my opinion, bang my elbow right off him, wish I'd of done it harder tbh!!

Aibu to have wished it had of had such force it would have knocked the phone right out of his hand!! (He was holding phone in front showing his equally ignorant mates something)

I've been on the receiving end of that.

I wouldn't use my phone in town because I want to be aware of other people.
But I do use it walking along quiet streets when walking to and from work.

I often don't notice people coming towards me. They will either say excuse me or will stand still until I notice them.
Tbh, they seem to do it to make the point that I haven't seen them and to make me step aside as there is always room for them to have walked past me.
But I look up and apologise anyway and move aside for them.

Totally different situation from a group of people taking up the whole pavement in a busy town centre or city centre.

@Vault687 this is AIBU and by the responses so far I was being unreasonable. I probably won't look at /reply to this thread again once home hence case closed for me. Thanks for your input though.

I remember when I used to walk with DD in the pushchair. Occasionally I'd meet people who didn't want to give me any space, they'd continue walking two or three abreast. I used to just speed up the closer I got, nearly took a few ankles out before they jumped out the way

You could try just stopping so they have no choice but to move

Never walk in the road because people not giving you space

I usually say very sharply 'eyes forward - watch where you are going' and then bring my elbows into play if they don't make space.

Being an 'invisible' 50+ is making me belligerent 😀 and unrepentant.

@MintJulia lol Victor Meldrew springs to mind!!! 😂 😂

The definition meaning rude and discourteous is "informal", so it's come about by people using the word wrongly for so long it's become sort of acceptable.

So, ironically, using the word ignorantly ignorantly has changed our language. Two wrongs don't make a right, but several millions do, apparently 😞

What bollocks!

Oh, and quit the phubbing people!

I had the same thing happen during lockdown except in my case it was a man and a woman with two large dogs (dogs taking up the space equivalence of two other humans) all in a row. I got my son to go behind me single file, as we always do when passing someone. Walked towards them expecting they would do the same but they walked straight at me (expecting me to move either into the road or the dog shit filled verge), when I didn't move I get called a cunt and all sorts. I told them to "fuck off" but if I didn't have my son with me I'd have said a lot more. I honestly can't believe the gall of some people!

I absolutely agree with you op, as a cyclist riding safely along cycle paths, I'm constantly astounded by the lack of awareness of people - especially as there are so many bad cyclists that don't slow down for pedestrians, even on normal footpaths.

@Patatopotato VictoriaMeldrew You've just given me my next username 😄

Why did you post then?

I’ve ended up nose to nose with people who seemed blissfully ignorant of my existence.
I asked them if they thought they were going to walk through me. They apologised and moved.

YANBU I walk daily on a canal footpath. The sheer number of oblivious and "couldn't care less" people entirely blocking the footpath, either having a chat or walking 2/3/4 abreast is staggering. Cyclists and rambling groups are the worst - they just march or cycle and clearly expect you to leap aside for them as they're far more important. As someone said above, best way to deal with it is stand still to one side of the pavement and force them into single file to get past you. Saying "excuse me" to those just stood there chatting usually has no effect - they're so self-obsessed they don't (or pretend not to) hear you. As for the chatters who have dogs on extendable leads, I hope hell has a special place for you, particularly the ones who havn't a clue what chaos their dogs are causing!

It's not a lack of spatial awareness, it's a lack of awareness of any sort really.

I get this occasionally, what I've found works best is becoming an immovable object. I stand stock still and let them flow around me. Somehow, standing still transforms me from being another pedestrian (who they expect will get out of their way), into street furniture (that they instinctively know won't).

Walking into me becomes the equivalent of walking into a bin, a streetlamp, a traffic-light, a pillar - it just doesn't happen. Sometimes the other pedestrians still seem unaware, sometimes there's that little flicker of panic on their face because they've got a scenario on their hands that's unfamiliar. Either way, they move around me and I can be on my way without having to step into the road or somesuch.

@swimlyn oh look another one who doesn't understands irony.

Swearing at someone on a thread in defence of good manners. 😂

Women have to protect themselves physically from terrible men.

Four men marching in a line taking up the entire width of the footpath do represent a physical risk to a woman, since they would have physically barged into her/barged her out of the way and off the path if she'd not stuck her elbow out to protect herself.

OP was physically standing on the path, presumably these men have EYES?? The fact they totally ignored the pretty significant visual presence of an adult person directly in front of them gives a pretty good hint that they'd ignore an audible presence too.

It's shocking that people are attacking OP for not... what? Dissipating into thin air, lest men be very slightly disaccommodated for two seconds?

A lot of men genuinely don't think women should be allowed to exist except to serve them, and get angry at the mere existence of women. Casual refusal to acknowledge a woman's basic human right to exist is extremely dangerous, as is the idea that women have to make themselves invisible to please misogynistic male dickheads.

No one who's not a completely entitled cunt walks four abreast down a path with other people coming the opposite way.

I have to say though, I routinely have to navigate one of the busiest tourist streets in London, walking against the crowd, and frequently I'll see a solid wall of tourists at least 10 people abreast just marching forward and seemingly taken aback by the concept that London pavements are not one-way. I'm talking a giant wide massive pedestrian-only street with tons of space, but people just seem to want to expand to fill every possible inch.

The trick I've discovered is that if you raise your phone to eyeline and pretend to be very engaged with your phone and not looking ahead, and just march, the human wall in the opposite direction will just magically part for you.

Obviously I'm not really looking at my phone, I'm using peripheral vision to make sure I'm not actually about to walk into anyone (and to look out for elderly, disabled people and children) but it honestly is like a magic trick. Especially with men.

it’s common on the prom near us there will be the whole family walking in a line taking up the entire prom

Cycle path not uncommon to have them walking 3 prams side by side

and couples on narrow pavement walking hand in hand and more or less force u to step in the rd

I experience this from time to time when people are too engrossed in their conversation to make space. It is not difficult to go single file where the footpath narrows.

My usual ploy is to stop walking and stand still on either side of the path and stare daggers at the one walking directly towards me. Eventually the penny drops. Fucking morons!

Women have to protect themselves physically from terrible men

Men bashing again 🙄

I experience this equally from both groups of men and women.

@pinkgrafittirat I salute you! DS (13) and I have just come back from London a few days ago having spent 4 nights there, I was constantly saying I don't know how Londoners cope with these oblivious tourists all standing around taking selfies and performing group photo shoots in the middle of busy areas whilst people are trying to go about their day! I found it infuriating as a tourist, I don't think I could deal with it on a daily basis, I'd lose my shit!

If you're going to spend £1000 on a phone you should be more careful carrying it around in public.

No I would stand to one side - like a normal person and not elbow someone

For a moment I thought this was a serious post and then I realised it was a spoof MN manbashing post