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800 Maynard Ave S, Suite 200, Seattle, WA 98134
800 Maynard Ave S, Suite 200, Seattle, WA 98134
Perhaps, instead of kvetching about this inconsequential First World "inconvenience", your time would be better spent in quiet contemplation of exactly WHY such a brief moment of reduced ambulation has you all a-dither...
Also, the Pioneer Square Station escalator has been broken for months.
And, of course, there are no "down" escalators at all going into the bus tunnel. This didn't used to be a big problem, but now that passengers are traveling with luggage, it's time to rethink the bus tunnel. And while they're at it, put in turnstiles!!!
Also, take the stairs.
Disoriented? Waiting for someone? Please take 10 steps and get away from the moving conveyor belt filled with other people! It takes a special kind of narcissism to be so oblivious in busy, crowded place.
What's the matter? Urine-saturated elevator not good enough for you, princess?
-escalators, you stand to the right. yes people in a hurry should be able to hurry without you judging them as rushing to an arbitrage deal -- maybe they're rushing to a job at mcdonald's!
-on the road get out of the hov lane if you're not going faster than the cars to the right! it's for passing.
-people don't really move out of your way or stand aside in public places. they kind of ignore you. you have to speak up saying excuse me, then they move -- instead of just being aware.
-peds, don't get m started -- they dart right out making you slam on the brakes. often they don't look at cars.
"sleepy" is the perfect word for it. and this whole "why do you need to hurry, maybe you should reconsider your values" reaction is sleepy, too. it costs you nothing to just stand on the right side when on an escalator. it costs you nothing to move right on the highway if you're not passing the cars on the right. just flow a bit better folks, it costs nothing, lots of us got more hustle and don't want to be standing around like bumpkins for no good reason. look at @22. someone else should take stairs because you're too lazy to move right 20 inches on an escalator? talk about stolid dull ignorant bumpkinheadedness!
this is how people in fucking Mississippi think. it's beneath us.
and in ny and London if you point out negatives there or things that could change they don't say that -- they sort of engage, argue, agree, react to what you say without the kneejerk "move outta here, flatlander!" attitude that's so dogpatchy.
I've been yelled at for walking too fast, and, since I'm actually aware of my surroundings (the rare times I'm not I'm too tired or out of it to walk fast), I wasn't knocking people over or cutting people off; I was doing nothing that merited criticism other than making slow dullards uncomfortable.
I bet you stand on the moving walkway in the airport.
Being a sophisticate in Seattle is like being a ballerina at square dance.
I agree with Charles, I can't stand how people are always obstructing or slowing down foot traffic, car traffic in this city. It can be frustrating because it just doesn't make sense, how people are this inconsiderate. I think it's totally fine to go at a slow or still pace but not when you're obstructing other people. I've honked, said 'excuse me', said 'HEY!!!', 'I'm trying to get by here..' so many goddamn times. But it doesn't matter, it doesn't change anything when being blunt, these pokey people often react like you've got a problem of impatience when calling them out.
Move, bitch, get out the way
So now the door checkers at Costco know me, because everytime I go there someone has to celebrate their victory of making it through the doorway, turning the cart sideways and stopping. I use my drill sergeant voice and announce "DO NOT STOP YOUR CART IN THE DOORWAY THEREBY BLOCKING EVERYONE ELSE FROM USING THE DOORWAY." (they giggle everyt time I do it)
Call the fuckers out. Emabarass them. Point out to them, and all others around, they they are being stupid. Use your damn horn. Lead, follow, or get the hell out of the way.
We're in the rear. Two adults in their early 30s. My mother in law, in her late 50s. My wife is last. Then me. Then my mother in law ahead of me.
Ahead of us, some lady carrying a baby, maybe 6 months old. She's maybe 2 steps above my mother in law.
Ahead of the mother with baby, maybe 10 steps up, is some brain dead dingbat lady who brought a well loaded LUGGAGE CART onto the escalator.
Predictably, the cart topples and she falls on top of it unceremoniously. The mother--with baby--didn't notice at first, as she was paying attention to her baby. That is, until SHE collides with the mental defective idiot flailing around on top of her luggage like a beached whale.
For maybe a fraction of a second the mother LOSES HER GRIP ON HER BABY, as she quickly screams MYBAY -- "my baby" -- as one terrified syllable. Just pure instinct and I start to nearly football tackle my helpless mother-in-law out of the way, when somehow, adrenaline, you know how time gets weird in these situations? -- the mom clearly catches her grip on her baby again and hurdles the luggage as the useless meat bag finally topples over her luggage onto the carpet to keep flailing about in a demonstration of why some people apparently are lucky to remember to preserve enough brain power to drive their respiratory systems.
I have no idea if I could have caught the kid like a loose football if I'd had to, and covered her up without losing a finger or shank of leg meats into the escalator if my mother in law, my wife, or the kid's mom fell on top of me. I like to imagine I would have Heisman posed/leapt over the luggage and beached whale creature with the baby in my arms, and maybe thrown a stiff arm into the idiot's face or chest for good measure. I probably would have just gotten maimed.
My mother in law, myself, and my wife stagger over this idiot's luggage, and I angrily kicked her luggage away and shoved her rack off of the escalator. She was white faced and horrified when she realized she nearly injured or killed this kid. The mother with the baby, both were fine, and left in a hurry. We left too as security ran over presumably to ream this lady.
This was a test, you passed.
You saw something you didn't like and said nothing, communicating the Seattle silent freeze, complained to other people about it with no hope for resolution, and will repeat the cycle since there wasn't an actual resolution at the moment of the event.
The circle is complete.
Let's all do that.
2. From the picture, I think the first person is a woman and the second is an older person. Instead of deriding them on the internet for being in your way, maybe you could have offered to help them maneuver their unwieldy bags. Or is that not "big city" behavior?
3. Are you so fucking important that you can't wait 20 seconds to get to the top of the escalator?
4. Why don't you take the stairs?
If everyone has luggage, I think single file is all the escalators can reliably handle.
Down escalators should be converted to slides.
I know, I know, it's a mixed-use trail, not just for bicycles only. But fuck you for hogging the whole width with your moving ambulatory koffee klatsch. Fuckers.
Passive aggressive is how we roll
Don't like it?
Leave
What bugs me about this attitude is that people complain about others being so self-centered as to prevent them from reaching their oh-so-important destination, and yet never seem to contemplate the fact that it is their OWN overly inflated sense of entitlement that causes them to get irate in the first place: "GODDAMIT, I NEED TO GET TO THE FRONT OF THIS LINE RIGHT NOW! BECAUSE, I ARE IMPORTANT!!!" It's like those drivers who speed past you on a busy arterial, but who then spend the next 20 minutes a mere two or three car lengths ahead of you; or conversely, the ones tailgating behind you in the middle lane who get pissed because, while you're driving the speed limit you're also leaving space ahead of you to allow other vehicles to smoothly and quickly make lane changes. What in fact do they actually accomplish by being self-important douches? Exactly nothing.
Seriously, if your time is THAT precious, maybe just consider starting out a few minutes early - you'll not only get where you're going on-time, but save yourself a potential aneurism in the process...
I agree, which is why I routinely block doorways in public places and make people wait, oh, 30 to 60 seconds to get past. What's so gawl-danged important that you can't wait 60 more seconds to get to, mister big shot!!! Relax and embrace the rude assholes getting in your way! It's good for you!
There is a difference between being deliberately rude or even blithely unaware of your surroundings, versus just moving at a slightly slower pace than somebody who clearly didn't allow themselves enough time to get where they need to go. If you start out late from the outset and furthermore don't bother to anticipate potential delays - whatever the cause - why is this someone else's problem?
The truth is, they simply are not THAT important, regardless how much they want the rest of us to acknowledge their inflated self-image; if they WERE, they'd either have big guys with sunglasses and little ear pieces running nterference for them, or they wouldn't even be using public conveyences in the first place.
If you don't recognize the degree to which people in this city are often befuddled dunderheads who think nothing of taking up the entire Burke Gilman with an eight-person spread or stopping right at the bottom of an escalator to rummage through their pockets, then I can only conclude that you *are* one of those people.
Sorry, #52, I meant to direct my comment @53.
Actually entitlement has nothing to do with it.
An example. Let's say I'm trying to get home to New Jersey from manhattan on a Saturday. The reason I'm in the city ends at 5 and I can't leave early.
I have to make the f train in 5 minutes. If I miss it then I have to wait 10 minutes for the next train. If I do that and I don't super hustle I have to wait at least an extra half hour between trains going into NJ.
I need the added speed of the escalator when I sprint up the stairs.
Maybe, if the people in such a hurry were a just little more polite themselves, rather than being self-absorbed, "me! Me! ME!" douche buckets wearing their petty sense of entitlement on their puffed-out chests like a freaking spandex pervert at Comi-Con, they might actually get the desired response, namely, people politely moving aside to let them pass. But, acting like you're THE MOST IMPORTANT PERSON in line with a "get the FUCK out of my WAY, asshole!" attitude probably deserves the sort of equally douche-baggy beat-down response implied in @52's presumably faceteous riposte.
This is Seattle; are you seriously implying that most people in a hurry aren't polite enough? I submit that they are too polite, so polite they won't even say anything. I am one of those people, for the record. My boyfriend, on the other hand, isn't. He says "excuse me". When his polite "excuse me" is ignored (which it invariably is), he repeats it at an ever-increasing volume. Once the dunderheads finally acknowledge his existence, they look at him like he just murdered their dog.
But thanks for confirming that you are, in fact, one of those people holding everyone else up and getting really pissed off when other people breeze by you, regardless of how polite or impolite they are.
If they don't say anything, and yet assume the rest of us are so adept at mind-reading that we just automatically know their needs and can thus respond to them accordingly, who in fact is the one with the problem?
Clearly you're not hearing what I'm saying: I do not condone willfully obstructing people (cit ref @53), and further suggested that a reasonable request deserves an equally reasonable response (cit ref @65). So please, don't attempt to conflate those statements to make them adhere to an obviously preconceived generalization (or perhaps a subconscious projection?), as opposed to what I've actually stated.
And the only reason I would have to be pissed at someone in this type of situation would be because they're being a rude, pushy, self-entitled asshat - which they could easily avoid by exhibiting even a modicum of humility, patience and civility. Respect is, as they say, something to be earned; no one is under any obligation to grant it unconditionally.
"the ones tailgating behind you in the middle lane who get pissed because, while you're driving the speed limit you're also leaving space ahead of you to allow other vehicles to smoothly and quickly make lane changes."
RCW 46.61.100
Keep right except when passing, etc.
(2) Upon all roadways having two or more lanes for traffic moving in the same direction, all vehicles shall be driven in the right-hand lane then available for traffic, except (a) when overtaking and passing another vehicle proceeding in the same direction, (b) when traveling at a speed greater than the traffic flow, (c) when moving left to allow traffic to merge, or (d) when preparing for a left turn at an intersection, exit, or into a private road or driveway when such left turn is legally permitted. On any such roadway, a vehicle or combination over ten thousand pounds shall be driven only in the right-hand lane except under the conditions enumerated in (a) through (d) of this subsection.
Crusing at the speed limit in the middle lane is technically against the law. Even if you are trying to aviod merging cars, you should be in the right lane until you need to avoid them.
No, you're just assuming that everyone complaining is a rude asshole or, conversely, perversely, not also meeting your demand of speaking up. Which is it? Are we supposed to speak up or are we not supposed to be "rude"? Can you make up your mind on that once you're done blocking the entrance to the supermarket?
My point is that there are significant social repercussions to speaking up in this city because speaking up, regardless of how polite you are, gets a death glare from people like you who consider an "excuse me" to be a fate worse than death.
Also, way to move the goalposts around whenever it's convenient for you. Aren't we just supposed to leave earlier and accept our fate that we're never going to get anywhere in a timely fashion? That is what you are *explicitly stating* in your comments @3 and 51. So which is it? Are we supposed to speak up and risk social opprobrium? Or are we just supposed to miss our bus connections?
Which is why I specifically used the term "middle" as opposed to "inside" lane. You're assuming I was referring to a two-lane direction of travel; however, "middle" inherently implies lanes to either side - ergo, three lanes - in which case I would not in fact be obstructing the inside passing lane. Also, by definition, anyone exceeding the speed limit to pass a vehicle travelling AT the speed limit (assuming that the general "traffic flow" is also proceeding at the speed limit), is breaking the law as well - two wrongs not making a right, and all that.
@71/72:
Evidentally, in your view anyone "speaking up" must, by definition do so in a rude manner, which again, is NOT what I've stated. But, since you appear keen on engaging in unfounded speculation, let me respond in-kind: perhaps, the response you receive from others in these situations has more to do with your neurotic fear of confrontation, to which you subsequently respond in a Passive Agressive manner, thus allowing you to rationalize that THEY are the ones being inconsiderate, because of course, it couldn't possibly have anything to do with your own actions, now could it?
And what, pray tell, is wrong with people taking some initiative on their own? If you constantly find yourself in situations where you must rush to get someplace because you're always running late, does not allowing ones self more time to take into account inevitable, unanticipated delays seem like a responsible, rational mode of adapting ones behavior? Again, examine your own actions: if you're constantly in a hurry, and people are constantly taking umbrage at how you interact with them in your desperate celerity, who, I ask again, is the one with the problem?
There you go again - read what I wrote dumbass: people who are "CONSTANTLY in a hurry", as in ALL THE FUCKING TIME in a hurry.
Are you trolls just particularly brain-dead today, or has someone secretly spiked your juice boxes with horse tranquilizers?
Does not matter if you are doing the speed limit. Doesn't matter if it is a 3, 4, or 5 lane road. Doesn't matter if others are speeding, unless you have a badge and whoopie lights on your car. Doesn't matter what you are doing, you are corking one of the lanes if you are not moving to the right as stated in the law. This causes backups in the traffic behind you, and it is dangerous.
When I lived in Germany many years ago, I saw how beautiful a functional highway system is. You can get a speeding ticket on the autobahn in certain areas. When I lived there a speeding ticket would cost 200-500DM. Camping in a lane other than the right one would bring a 6 month suspension of license, and a 2000DM fine. 2nd offense you lose your license to drive. Forever. Why did they do this? It is going against the most basic way traffic is meant to flow.
Everytime I drive on I-5, say after rush hour traffic, it's just blockage after blockage. 3 right hand lanes filled with one car in each, doing 60, side by side, slowing down to 50 for hills and curves, then slowly getting back up to speed. Behind them it is the fucking road warrior to get to that one open lane, slide in and get around the blockage. Lather, rinse, repeat.
Stay in the right lane except to pass. You have every right in the world to go the speed limit, hell, even 10-20 miles an hour UNDER the speed limit as long as you are in the right most lane. If you are not in that lane, and not passing the cars to your right, then you are breaking the law, and creating a situation much more dangerous than a speeder would.
And what drives me more nuts than anything, is how sometimes I am able to drive and pass dozens of cars in the far right lane, while doing the speed limit, becuase all the lanes to the left of me are filled with cars, who are all basically too lazy to want to merge. Not having to drive on the interstate very often is one of the main reasons I moved to where I did. People just drive wrong on the interstates here, and not staying right except to pass is the number one reason.
People here in DC understand and when asked to move to the right, they always comply. Tourists look a little befuddled when asked, then comply. Always. Know why? Because it makes sense and makes things run smoothly.
If there is an older person or somebody who might have difficulty moving, you ride it out, no biggie. Just like it's no biggie to step aside.
And there is NOTHING more infuriating than those two or three times a year when the Pro-Life people march on Capitol Hill and thousands of catholic school kids congregate in front of the escalators, blocking them and causing a rush hour bottleneck Chris Christie would be proud of.
It's the best argument FOR abortion I've ever seen.
I have a billion other pet peeves, though! Does Slog need more writers to air their individual petty grievances?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fCC8fDOq…
Again, this is all dependent on "traffic flow" per Subsection 2(b). If everyone in the right lane is travelling at-speed, then one only need to travel at the merest fraction of a mph above that in the next lane over, assuming there is still a lane further left to allow for passing vehicles. Likewise, if the right-hand lane traffic is moving below the posted rate of speed, then one could still drive in the middle of the three lanes, even if also under the speed limit, so long as they are moving just a teensy bit faster. How much faster isn't specified in any case; you could be going 0.0001 mph (0.009 feet per second at 60 mph) faster and still technically be in-compliance, based on a literal interpretation of the RCW. This is why nobody ever gets pulled over for being in the middle lane.
As to the "right lane moving faster than the left lane" conundrum, that's really more the result of the constant speed-up/slow-down driving pattern most people use in congested traffic (aka the "stop-wave" effect). People are conditioned to brake when they see brake lights and they also tend to drive too close to the car ahead of them; so, the actual solution is not for everyone to stay in the right lane (which would inevitably grind to a halt due to sheer volume, if nothing else), but rather to drive at the average rate-of-traffic and leave more space between vehicles, so that you don't have to constantly tap your brakes whenever someone ahead of you does, which results in smoothing out flow, as well as facilitating lane changes.
Basically, it's just a matter of knowing a bit about fluid dynamics and how they affect large aggregations of particles (in this case cars) flowing along a confined pathway. Particles that slow down create backwards-moving pressure waves; if the particles encountering the wave are positioned too close together, they have to slow down too. Particles with more space between them don't - or at least not as much. And surprisingly, that means none of the other particles behind THEM have to slow down, either!
But, I digress...
Ok, giving up on this thread, it was fun doing this while bored at work, but I'm home now and there is drinking to be done.
It is pretty easy to tell, actually: the people to be civil to are the ones acting in a civil manner. I get the whole "you should turn the other cheek" thing, but IMO at least, it seldom comes from someone who has any interest in reciprocating.
But, I do get it: anyone can be in a hurry. It just seems not so many can be in a hurry AND accept that it's their own damned fault, and thereby not take out their frustration on someone else who's not responsible. After all, I didn't make you late; you were already running late long before you ever got near me, probably as far back as when you left where ever you're coming from. You want to pass me on the escalator in order to make up that teeny bit of time? Fine - ask nice and don't be an asshole if I don't jump to attention at the mere sound of your voice, because, hey, maybe I"m a little distracted myself. Maybe I've got on earphones and don't hear you right away. Maybe I have a hearing imparement. Maybe I come from a place where people naturally pass on the right - there are all sorts of perfectly legitimate reasons why I may not immediately respond to your request that have absolutely nothing to do with your predicament. But, regardless, always remember: it's not my fucking fault you're late, so behave accordingly and you'll probably be fine.
For instance, in NYC, it is very common to hear the subway conductors announce, "LET 'EM OFF!" Why you ask? Because assholes and idiots like to start getting on the subway as soon as the doors open (and before those wishing to exit can disembark) causing a clusterfuck. Picture taking the bus in Seattle and charging your way up into the bus as people are trying to get off. Seems like an asshole move, no?
Now some of you could argue that those folks who wish to get off before others get on are simply in a hurry or are late so fuck them, they can wait and get off after waiting an extra 20 seconds, right? WRONG.
When using a major city's transportation system even Stevie Wonder can see that it helps EVERYONE if you "let 'em off", stand to the right, don't block the doorways, and take your backpack off on a crowded train.
The truth is that big cities simply have more people you have to learn to deal with. Some of us do and some of us don’t. Which is fine. Blood pressure only becomes an issue when you’re much older.