To have been using my phone while walking on the pavement

[untiloneofuscaves]

I’ll hold my hands up and say this is one of those things that I know is really annoying.

I was walking on the outside of the pavement answering an email because I’ve not had a chance all day. I wasn’t weaving and there was probably 5 foot of space to my right.

Two young men (probably mid-20s) saw me and walked right towards me. One bumped his shoulder into me and went “watch where you’re going you fat fuck” and the other said “yeah watch where you’re going fat fucker”. As they walked past me one shouted “fat fuckers like her shouldn’t be allowed to live” and both kept yelling fat fucker as I walked away.

AIBU to think this really isn’t justified?

Yes, this. It really isn't that hard. Or: walk to train, deal with email when there.

Trying to navigate the pavement in a wheelchair when people are walking with their heads in their phones is annoying as all hell.

Sorry that happened to you. Horrible people. Please pay attention to where you are walking. Getting bowled over by a fellow pedestrian on their phone is no joke.

As someone with a visual impairment this is very annoying. Using a mobility cane means that for reasons known to everyone else, I'm walked into more

Phones aside - that's annoying, Shows how thick they are for one to have to copy the others insult.
What a pair of pointless twats.

Yes of course you’re to blame.

You wouldn’t walk down the street reading a book so why would you read your emails.

I have actually seen people walk down the street reading books. Most odd

She is not to blame for a pair of men's aggression, physical assault, and verbal abuse.

Guess I deserved to be called a fat fucker then 👍🏻

Are people who mindlessly walk around with their heads in their phones annoying? Yes, of course. Is it a legitimate reason to launch a horrific verbal attack at someone and say they don't deserve to live? Absolutely fucking not. What is actually wrong with you if you think this way?

They were rude twats, just looking for someone to pick on. If not you it would have been someone else.

It doesn’t sound like it was necessarily even related to the phone issue.

You shouldn’t walk down the street using your phone, but it’s not really the point.

That’s why I don’t think it’s really to do with the phone. It was just something they decided to pick on as their “excuse” to abuse someone. And it happened to be you.

What an illogical argument. If the email needed to be sent before close of business then no, it could not have waited until she got home.

In any case, OP, nothing could justify their appalling behaviour, not even your egregious crime of owning a phone in public (I’m not even sure why you mentioned it, tbh). It would be a different matter if you’d stumbled into them because you were paying attention, but you didn’t. They had no reason to interact with you, but they did, in the nastiest possible way. Scum.

That's awful 😢 there really are some vile scum bags out there.

They shouldn't have done it for any reason. Equally you shouldn't be walking along with your face in your phone, you're not paying attention to your surroundings and even though they deliberately walked across & into your path so they could abuse you, would you have even seen them or anyone else if they had already been walking directly towards you ? Yes you've got peripheral vision, but it didn't stop you getting bumped by two w@nkers did it.

The young men's response had nothing to do with you using your phone, it was an opportunity to shame you.

So the young men were unreasonable. But so we're you. If you must answer the e mail, find yourself a safe place, next to a shop window, lamppost bus stop, standstill and answer your e-mail. Don't get in people's way, which you really cannot avoid doing if you arent aware of your surroundings.

Is this country just becoming the country of thugs?!
I overheard a year four child call another year four child a d*ckhead yesterday.
Shame on the society who is bringing up boys/men like that.

Of course not.

You could crash your car into someone and not deserve verbal abuse.

There is never an excuse for personal insults or verbal abuse.

That doesn’t excuse your actions though.

I got called a cunt by a guy walking down the pavement the other day. Unusually, I wasn't even looking at my phone. He just felt the need to brighten up my day with a charming comment.

The mental gymnastics you're doing to excuse two men of deliberately going out of their way to verbally abuse a woman on her own is disgusting.

"“fat fuckers like her shouldn’t be allowed to live” and both kept yelling fat fucker as I walked away."

The fact you seem to think this is ok shows you need to do some work on yourself as a person.

Clearly their behaviour was not acceptable.

But you have to accept that if you're walking along the street with no awareness of what's around you because you're looking down at your phone, you're likely to collide or have near misses.

Where did I say it was ok to verbally abuse OP?

I’ve said in every post that it was unacceptable.

Please show me where I have said it was ok to verbally abuse someone.

But if rear ended someone because I was in my car and quickly sent a text then that would be my own fault.

Even OP said what she was doing was annoying.
If a blind person or someone with cerebral palsy was coming the other way then OP could have knocked them off their feet.

Just be a bit more aware of your surroundings instead of having your head stuck in your phone.

OP you are getting a hard time on here and I’m baffled at some of the comments. I’m sorry this happened to you. Something similar happened to me but I wasn’t on my phone. I was on my lunch break in London and window shopping. I was walking close to the buildings and about to turn into a shop, when a tall older guy in a suit shoulder barged into me so hard I toppled onto the wall of the shop and grazed my arm. When I cried out “ouch” he turned round and yelled “and an ow from me too”. This was about 15 years ago and I have never forgotten it. Please take care of yourself and for your own safety, put the phone away while you are walking!

Spot on, I think. Men who go round saying stuff like this would be saying something like it to some poor woman whether or not they happened to walk past a woman on a phone.

Them telling you to 'watch where you are going' is fine, justifiable even. The insults and swearing is absolutely not and they've lost any high ground they had in this scenario by being vile about it.

Had you left out the part in your OP where you say you were answering an email whilst walking the responses you receive would have been completely different.
No it's not acceptable for these men to behave in this way.
Have I seen people fall into the road whilst using their phone and walking? Yes.