Angry Pedestrian

[Vishenka69]

If any of you are planning on visiting NYC, I strongly advise you not to drive. Not only is there no right turns on red anywhere in the city, but pedestrians rule the streets to the point where driving feels like an obsticle course except there are people instead of orange cones.

My biggest pet peeve these days (and I hope none of you get offended) are tourists. I work across the street from Radio City and Rockefeller Center and catch the train around Times Sq and every day I feel like I have to fight my way to just cross the street. Why can't people understand that if they stand in the middle of a sidewalk, they'll get shoved.

[ides]

vishenka- totally agree with you about tourists in nyc.

pet peeves: people making ing throat clearing noises in public. ack! makes me want to !
chewing with your mouth open
people blowing their nose then checking the contents of their tissue
leaving the toilet seat up
abandoning/neglecting pets - makes me want to give a beat down!
people letting their kids run wild (i.e. climbing on other store patrons carts, etc)
people paying in the grocery with checks

Driving pet peeves: ah, there are so many!
People crusing in the center turning lane
Being cut off
trying to cut you out of a merge because you are kind enough to use a turn signal
stopping before turning into a driveway or street from a major road.
breaking to a stop at speed bumps
not looking before merging
driving way under the speed limit

Oh, I hate it when drivers do not yield to pedestrians! Sure, pedestrians need to be vigilant and shouldn't dart out into traffic, but the onus is on the driver to make sure the road is clear. I think a big part of the problem is that drivers are so distracted with cell phones, mp3s, their kids...they just don't have their eyes on the road anymore. The worst is when I am waiting to cross at a marked crosswalk that is not at an intersection. Some of the drivers don't see me (which doesn't make it right), but I know that some of them DO see me and still fail to stop. Geez, not only is it the law, but it is just the polite thing to do.

I used to honk my horn at people who cut me off until a friend of mine was involved in a road rage incident a few years ago in LA. Someone cut him off on the freeway so he in turn sped up and cut them off. They followed him when he got off at his exit and when they were both stopped at a red light, the other driver walked up to his car and shot him. Luckily, he was just down the street from a trauma center (he was a medical rep and was headed there to call on some surgeons) so he drove himself to the ER and, thankfully, survived. You just never know if the other driver is a crazy person with a gun in the car, so now I just take a deep breath and let those things roll off my back.

I have so many other pet peeves that I just wouldn't know where to start....

[Auspicious]

If any of you are planning on visiting NYC, I strongly advise you not to drive. Not only is there no right turns on red anywhere in the city, but pedestrians rule the streets to the point where driving feels like an obsticle course except there are people instead of orange cones.

I agree and I have to say that's one of the things I love about NYC (although it's one of the things that makes me avoid driving here like the plague). I'm sure I won't explain it well, but I have the vague sense that there's a better sense of community in places that are "pedestrian owned" instead of "car owned."

I never jump out in front of cars (that'll get you a severe honking here--lord New Yorkers love their horns!) and always assume the driver can't see me/is impaired, but I also think crosswalks and waiting for walk signals are for sissies. There's too many people in too small a space in too big a hurry for us to be bureaucratic about these things--you've got to just get yourself where you're going without impeding the flow or getting yourself killed. It's all part of the rhythm, man!

[Sheherezade]

We witnessed a road rage incident in Baltimore when my kids were little. One guy didn't advance through a red light when it turned green so the guy behind him honked. Then he got out with a gun in his hand. I had my kids at the corner walking ready to cross the street. I picked them both up and RAN back down the street to a doorway. It was horrible. I can't believe there are people out there with that short of a fuse. Luckily, this guy was also stupid because there were police in the intersection area. They arrested him and nobody was hurt.

[Sheherezade]

I'm sure I won't explain it well, but I have the vague sense that there's a better sense of community in places that are "pedestrian owned" instead of "car owned."

I have that idea in my head, too. Back in the day when I lived in NYC some one told me walking in NYC was a martial art. It's similar in Boston - but the people there are just not black belts. Or even brown. They DO own the streets (in their minds at least) but they are stupid. They really don't look or stop. At all.

[Auspicious]

I saw someone get a road rage beating. I don't know how it started, but two cars stopped at a red light and the driver of the rear car got out and said something to a woman in the backset of the front car. The driver of the front car was instantly out and befor you could blink landed about eight unreturned punches right on the guy's head! I was standing half a block away waiting for a bus, and couldn't hear what they were saying but the SOUND carried all the way over to me--each punch being landed made a noise like an egg cracking! Like when someone falls and hits their head on the ground, if you've ever heard that. Oh it was gross--it still makes me cringe. Like in goofy's case, the police were there almost immediately. The first guy should have stayed in his car!

[DCJenn]

Ahhh, tourists. We get the annual 8th grade busloads. Nothing like a huge pack of pre-teens all trying to be funny.

Invariably one or more will either ask to pet my dog or just go ahead and try to do it. Dear God- DO NOT TOUCH MY DOG. This time of year we don't even bother taking our walks on the Mall, there's just too much nuttiness.

And if any of you have ever been here, you know that the paths on the Mall are HUGE. Yet, people insist on taking up all of the available room. and then stnd there with their maps out trying to figure out where they are. I usually ask them where they're trying to go so that I can move them out of the way.

Love their money, hate the space that they take up!

Jenn

and please, don't even attempt to drive in the city if you're not from here...

[alison]

Well... if you want bad customer service, go to Germany, where you pack your own groceries in your own bag (you bring it), with the person at check out telling you to pack it faster.

Annie, you're totally right about cars and pedestrians in Seattle vs. Chicago. I'm afraid customer service doesn't get better in Lincoln Park. You'd have to get at least as far up as Winnetka before it's any different than the city.

I try to let things go (stupid people, bad drivers cutting me off when I'm walking). It's not good for my already high blood pressure. I can't sweat the small things, otherwise I'll have a heart attack like my dad. I used to get irritated about nearly everything, and have just learned recently to try to ignore things unless they're really important. It's hard.

[SueC]

I can't stand to see people driving without their kids buckled in. It's even worse if the adult in the car does have their seat belt fastened. I've been known to call the police and report them.
People littering, including cigarette butts. That drives me absolutely crazy!
People who don't know how to merge. People who are wishy-washy about going when it is their turn at a 4-way stop. I think it's important to be cautious but you're actually more of a hazard if you can't figure out how to get onto the highway, etc.

more on the grammar:

can I / may I ..... it was beat into my head as a child, and I will make CERTAIN mine know it as well.

honking: unless someone is giving birth in the backseat of your car, you do not need to honk at every little thing! sure - if someone is just sitting at a green light, give a toot - but it's not the end of the world.

customer service gets better the more midwest you go. Cleveland was atrocious, and I find the service in KC to be far better. Sue may disagree, but I was so used to AWFUL that pretty much anything is an improvement.

I try so hard not to be touristy when I go places, b/c tourists annoy me. When I was in Alaska I took Jen's car and went "downtown" by myself one afternoon. When I got back to the house Jen said "How was it?" and I said "Ugh. Tourists." Then we both realized how ridiculous it was. The fanny packs and cricket hats are a dead giveaway, folks! I find it much easier to do the NYC thing w/someone who lives there.

[Phoebe]

I realized what my pet peeve is, one of them at least. I dislike going to a playground only to have a bunch of older kids who are too old for the equipment to play tag on it while much smaller children are using it too. I dislike even more when they don't give the smaller kids some space and practically run them over and use foul language around them.

It ticks me off.

[MissCrabette]

I'll chime in.

* I hate it when you give people plenty of warning you're going to merge and there's enough space to do so and yet they still honk at you. Oh no, the tragedy! I slowed them down by one car length.

* This one is from my DC days. Stand right, walk left. It's not a difficult concept but lots of people overlook it, especially at rush hour.

* I hate it when people don't use their blinkers when making a left turn and you unknowingly pull up behind them. Give me some warning, will you?

* I don't hate this one but I find it extremely dangerous when people stop on train tracks in stop and go traffic. It wouldn't hurt them to stop a few feet before the tracks just to be on the safe side but they rarely do. I know they think that traffic will move fairly soon but sometimes it doesn't and it's too much of a risk to take.

* I hate DC taxis. As a matter of fact, I hate all DC traffic. People there drive like maniacs.

Interesting article from cnnmoney.com about which states have the "dumbest" drivers:

http://money.cnn.com/2006/05/26/Autos/d ... /index.htm

Approximately one in three drivers said they usually do not stop for pedestrians in crosswalks. At least one out of five drivers did not know that pedestrians in a crosswalk have the right of way.

[MissCrabette]

Hahaha! You crack me up Krystal. I thought you said you were as cool as a cucumber in the other thread. Gotcha! In any case, I'd be ticked off if some store clerk made assumptions about my ability to fix things around the house. We're in the 21st century, has he been hiding under a rock?