Candidates for Annoyances.org

[K1200RS]

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I can predict, I just don't understand. I was taught, from the time I first learned how to walk, that you walk to the right. Ever been to Ryerson? I can be in an empty hallway, in Jorgenson hall, and as I'm walking my shoulder is almost brushing the right wall. Someone steps out of a stairway, to my left, crosses the hallway, and walks right at me on their left side. It defies logic. They have 12 feet of hallway to choose from and they choose that space, when the person can plainly see me?

I find that the best way to get through crowds in Toronto is to not look at the people and instead look for the spaces between them. If I do look at them, then target fixation starts to kick in. As well, it is useful I find to start to anticipate where the gaps will form which means I need to get a sense of the general movement of the crowd. Small children are unpredictable as are groups of teenagers. I also find that it is prudent to avoid passing too close to the doorways of certain clothing stores. For that matter, walking on the right side means that I should walk on the west side of a northbound street and the east side for southbound.

Part of the reason I go to these lengths is that I am six foot plus and on the wrong side of 300 pounds so if I run into people, I could hurt them. I have taken out, unintentionally, a few cyclists and heads-down cell phone users. Hunters often shoot at me in the woods.

Regarding Gretzky, his genius is (or was) predicting where the puck would be versus observing where it was.

 

[Rob MacLennan]

I find that the best way to get through crowds in Toronto is to not look at the people and instead look for the spaces between them. If I do look at them, then target fixation starts to kick in. As well, it is useful I find to start to anticipate where the gaps will form which means I need to get a sense of the general movement of the crowd. Small children are unpredictable as are groups of teenagers. I also find that it is prudent to avoid passing too close to the doorways of certain clothing stores. For that matter, walking on the right side means that I should walk on the west side of a northbound street and the east side for southbound.

Part of the reason I go to these lengths is that I am six foot plus and on the wrong side of 300 pounds so if I run into people, I could hurt them. I have taken out, unintentionally, a few cyclists and heads-down cell phone users. Hunters often shoot at me in the woods.

Regarding Gretzky, his genius is (or was) predicting where the puck would be versus observing where it was.

I'm not exactly a large guy, at 5'9" and 190 pounds, but I have a shaved head, goatee, and generally dour expression. Sane, normal people wouldn't generally think that walking at me would be a good idea. I've essentially given up on getting out of their way. They can walk into me, if they're so inclined.

 

[RockerGuy]

This is right up near the top of my list, rude people that want my money.
If you ever want to see an employee get educated about customer service in public, hang out with me for awhile.
I'm a CS pro, i will hold a seminar right in front of the manager, just to make my point clear and embarrassing for them.

Almost every single day, the people that serve me coffee, rudely yell in my face, "$2.06".
So i say "pardon me?"
Then they proceed to yell louder as if i'm deaf.

This is when the seminar begins and the customers around me burst out laughing......

Next time wear a gopro

 

[Jampy00]

Next time wear a gopro

Hey not abad idea, I am sure you can even start a little web based series as I know customer service is at a all time low....

 

[coyo]

Hey not abad idea, I am sure you can even start a little web based series as I know customer service is at a all time low....

I'd hire you (once a preview trailer was observed).

 

[RockerGuy]

Hey not abad idea, I am sure you can even start a little web based series as I know customer service is at a all time low....

If they had hire you as management they'd get it right in the first place

 

[Baggsy]

OK, not really, I just always have really liked that website name. What is one of the little things, that you encounter daily, that really annoys you.

For me it's how people who meet each other and stop to talk, on sidewalks and in hallways, always seem to choose a chock point and then align themselves perpendicular to the line of travel, so as to block the maximum amount of that limited passing space.

You?

For me it's people using words they don't understand
In your case why don't you try pulling the chocks, and maybe the people will roll away

 

[Rob MacLennan]

For me it's people using words they don't understand
In your case why don't you try pulling the chocks, and maybe the people will roll away

Actually that's me being unable to type and the word actually existing, so the spell check doesn't catch it

Should have been "choke point."

 

[cheekeebandito]

Lazy morons that park their cages in a fire lane with 10 empty parking spots a few feet away .... See it every day .... Drives me nuts ....

 

[inreb]

I'm not exactly a large guy, at 5'9" and 190 pounds, but I have a shaved head, goatee, and generally dour expression. Sane, normal people wouldn't generally think that walking at me would be a good idea. I've essentially given up on getting out of their way. They can walk into me, if they're so inclined.

I can help you with this. I'm your height, 185lb ish, shaved head and sport a variety of facial hair. On a good day I look like I'm sucking a lemon. It's so bad I should be riding a Harley. It's pure animal magnetism. Get used to it.

 

[D23]

I can predict, I just don't understand. I was taught, from the time I first learned how to walk, that you walk to the right.

And people from other countries learn to step to the left.

Japan, Australia, England, Ireland, Malaysia, Cyprus, Singapore, UK etc. etc.

Know why that is?

 

[FullMotoJacket]

Stick figure families. I dunno why but they annoy the crap outta me.

It's a car, not a social update.

I'm still waiting to see the Holy Grail. A polygamist's minivan.

 

[AF4iK]

This has got to be one of my annoyances too. This is Toronto, so I'm not surprised here, selfishness tops everything.

It annoys people who don't respect my personal space, people who brush against you. Next time, I won't bathe for a month. That should give me a bit of personal space

LOL mine's similar except it's when friends or co-workers (dudes specifically) walk really closely next to me so that our shoulders and/or hands make contact while we walk. Frack! I veer away to make some room but they don't get the hint and just follow right along until we're brushing shoulders again. I'd feel bad saying 'get the **** away from me' so I usually keep adjusting my course constantly like a friggin fly.

 

[Rob MacLennan]

And people from other countries learn to step to the left.

Japan, Australia, England, Ireland, Malaysia, Cyprus, Singapore, UK etc. etc.

Know why that is?

And we walk to the right. I don't see those people driving on the left here. Know why?

 

[D23]

Guess you missed the point.

It's a subconscious thing to do what you have been raised to do.

I figured it out in Australia. People would get pissy when I naturally stepped to the right to pass. It's ingrained in me so I had to make the conscious effort to move left. sometimes I would forget.

They even have "look right" painted on the curbs at intersections because tourists get smoked by traffic. Again, instinct to look left for us.

I agree with "when in Rome" but you have to see it from the other end to understand it I guess.

 

[Rob MacLennan]

Guess you missed the point.

It's a subconscious thing to do what you have been raised to do.

I figured it out in Australia. People would get pissy when I naturally stepped to the right to pass. It's ingrained in me so I had to make the conscious effort to move left. sometimes I would forget.

They even have "look right" painted on the curbs at intersections because tourists get smoked by traffic. Again, instinct to look left for us.

I agree with "when in Rome" but you have to see it from the other end to understand it I guess.

Oh, I got your point all right, it's just that (as you said) "When in Rome..." Also, while there are many places in the world where you keep left, there are as many or more in which you keep right. Then there are the 'native' Canadians, who can be presumed to at least be a large proportion of the pedestrians in any given public area, for whom it should be natural to keep right.

They don't.

 

[D23]

Yea, I'm not defending ignorance or anything, just giving a "reason' for it.

Or an example of why people might naturally move left.

Most people move out of my way ahead of time so I guess I just don't get to see it much.

 

[Rob MacLennan]

Yea, I'm not defending ignorance or anything, just giving a "reason' for it.

Or an example of why people might naturally move left.

Most people move out of my way ahead of time so I guess I just don't get to see it much.

There was a time that I could walk from one end of a shopping mall to another, without having to get out of anyone's way. Those were the days when I had hair over my eyes and weighed in at 130 pounds, soaking wet.

 

[D23]

Maybe it's just another thing that's eroding in society. Vicseks collective motion claims that a crowd of people moving in random directions subconsciously plot a route that will avoid collision no matter how dense it is.

If that's true then the only reason to not step around another person to the right (the accepted norm in Western society) is because you naturally move left or, you come from another society that moves left as the norm. The children of immigrants will learn their behaviors from their parents and then adapt to the conventions of their new environment over time.

I don't know if I used to move left (British immigrant) and re learned. I's been so long since I lived there but I know it's hard for me to not automatically move right now.

It's also a presence thing. Smaller people normally yield to larger ones heading toward them as a defense reaction. Even to the point of moving the "wrong" way because they calculated that motion as the easiest path of avoidance. Sometimes people that would naturally yield consciously do not, in order to prove a point to themselves I guess.

Maybe it's a Napoleon complex?

 

[inreb]

Speaking of bumping into. Angry dualsport dood @ Higher Ground Belfountain. I've talked to him, like, 4 or 5 times. EVERY time he swears a blue streak, raging against the world. First time I thought he was just having a bad day. But here's the kicker: he always lists every bike he's ever owned, making special note of the 1974 Ducati 750SS which he sold for a song because there was no freaking dealer support back then but now the same bike would fetch 80,000 dollars in unmolested condition. A moot point as his would surely be molested. He has no idea what I ride, past or present. I love biker hangouts.

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