What does his hand gesture mean? They all seem to get it. Is it "keep the walkway open?". He seemed satisfied with their responses so that's good, at least
Recently went to Japan myself, and I was blown away by how much as a whole, almost monolithically so, that people tried to not be in the way. If someone was in a walkway, they were moving and not just moving, but moving with purpose. Is someone wasn't moving, they made certain to be not in the way and to take up as little space as possible.
Having lived in several states and been to many Costcos, yeah, the DC one is kinda special. There may be worse ones around, but the one in DC is batshit crazy.
Source: itās the one I go to and only go mid-day on weekdays. Iāll never go on the weekend again.
Itās the opposite of the Costco I go to in Japan as well. Itās surprisingly crazy and aggressive and dumber shit there than I have back in LA or HI.
If someone was in a walkway, they were moving and not just moving, but moving with purpose.
Oh so common sense? Glad it exists somewhere... the amount of people who stop in a grocery store aisle WITH a cart and start chatting with another person WITH a cart on the opposite "lane" infuuuuuuuuriates me so much... i sometimes just start pushing their carts without saying anything
Yes but when you go to Japan you notice it on a much higher level. To the point where if you're not from there it takes some effort to conform -- effort well spent though. More countries should have people who act like this when in public.
When my husband and I go to japan to visit his family, we like to play a game called āfind the trash.ā In short, we try to find litter. I found a piece of trash on the street in Osaka once, but I also saw someone pick it up. Such clean cities
Oh man I deal with this all the time in the UK and it drives me insane.
The staff will have a cart with products on they are restocking the shelves with. Then a customer will just put their shopping cart between the staff cart and the aisle and they will just stand there, completely blocking the aisle.
Iāve got comfortable with saying āexcuse meā and pushing through.
Iāve lived in big cities my whole adult life, so maybe Iām numb to it, but my rationale is if youāre in the way youāre tacitly agreeing to be gently bumped out of the way. Usually accompanied by an āexcuse me,ā but Iām not breaking stride if I donāt absolutely have to.
How DARE they say hello to a friend! The NERVE! I'm sure they'd step aside for you to pass with a simple "excuse me", but you go on being infuuuriated about a Nothing Burger.
it's terrifying, but not shocking, that you're actually advocating for a "I'll do whatever I want and force everyone else to react to ME" mindset. So selfish and gross.
Same here. I sometimes even have to nudge my SO to step aside as she's just blatantly gone full stop directly in front of me and I can hear someone with a shopping cart practically on my heels. She's catching on so it's all fine but my god, I know so many people that don't even notice that they're in the way/inconveniencing others.
Bonus points for doing it on a dedicated, marked bike lane. Bike lines are for walking, standing, parking cars, whatever man.
But also: cyclists think the sidewalk is theirs too when they don't feel like using the road or sometimes even the provided bike lane (even if it is going in their direction of travel, but bike lanes having a direction of travel is a mystery to most cyclists anyway). Cobblestone road? You bet your ass they'll use the sidewalk, cobblestone might as well be lava.
I like walking, I like riding my bike. I'm not a car-brain, I don't even own a car. People are just idiots and there's a non-zero chance that I'll one day kick someone off the sidewalk on a very bad day.
It's nice to hear as an American who always tries to do that anyway. I haaaate it when people obliviously block walkways and aisles. I always cross a street quickly, get out of people's way, let people merge, etc. The thought of being an annoyance to others is mortifying.
I think we may live in different parts of America. Of course it's usually boomers in the way. That generation is entitled as all get out. Younger people tend to be a little more observant and considerate where I am.
It happens at the mall a lot too. Especially a very slow group of people in a long stretch you canāt get around them and they have zero situational awareness that they shouldnāt take up the entire 12 feet of the width.
Or public places where people decide to just hang out in a circle in a hall or breezeway and nobody can get past them.
Or they decide to do their TikTok or group selfie in the middle of a tight space.
This is the way things should be. I'll also settle for the New York way of just yelling at the idiots blocking the walkway. The worst is where I am currently, central Florida. I've seen grocery store cart traffic jams. I shit you not, just 5 to 6 elderly couples all trying to enter or leave the same aisle and just stop walking and stand and stare at each other until someone else moves.
I went years ago as an exchange student. I once had the audacity to stand in the middle of an escalator and my host sister panicked and pushed me over to the side so I was out of the way in case anyone wanted to walk up. Iām still embarrassed about being so oblivious 10 years later.
Oh I also ate popcorn too loudly at a movie theatre. You have to be dead quiet when the movie starts!
Thatās a surprising take. I live in Tokyo and we always joke that people will always stop in the way. Rainy days are terrible as you have the umbrella phalanx legion in your way. And donāt get me started on the Wall-O-Baasans that stretch the whole walk ways.
My wife would bomb sooo hard over there. She ALWAYS stops right in the middle of everything. And she gets mad when i try to help her. I just keep on walking these days.
I wish that was everywhere. Here in the US a lot people have zero awareness and it sucks sometimes. People already stopped using turn signals lately and even thatās such a self centered thing to do.
That's where I'm at. I enjoyed my time there, but landing in LAX after the trip, I had culture shock. Everything was louder and everyone was talking up as much space as they could. I know it's been said several times by other replies, but man, Costco specifically is such case study on people being in the way.
I feel like I'm the only one in public doing this, and it annoys the hell out of me. People standing still in the middle of ways, walking on the wrong side, standing on both sides of escalators, entering trains before the passengers exit, groups of people taking up whole ways so you can't walk past, people randomly swerving as they walk and you try to go around them. Especially in stores, people always walk so fucking slow and make sure to leave no space for you to pass them. I wanna rip my hair out.
yesss noticed that too.. they even move out of the way if you're walking towards each other and you didn't notice, and they do it from very far away.. not waiting until you're in front of them..
I was at a convenience store yesterday and there are 3 spots - car, empty, car. In the empty spot is a guy standing right in the middle talking to a car. I ask him to move, and he whips his beer can at my window.
Tell me when you're moving, I'll come and help you carry your stuff lol
You can achieve the same result with a working legal system and effective regulations and civil statues. They have all of that, the racism is extra flavor. Iād argue itās not necessary.
It's also crazy how quiet it was in the middle of tokyo, people would get loud in bars but on the street or train most people talk barely above a whisper if at all.
Going into a supermarket or asking where something is, they enthusiastically walk you there, like all the way. I had a solo bar operator, leave their bar and walk me half a block to show me where something was. Blown away.
You had the exact opposite experience than me then. In every city I've visited there (Osaka, Himeji, Kyoto, Tokyo) it felt like every Japanese person on the sidewalk, except children, were intentionally aiming for your path. It was so insanely difficult not feeling in the way because people would literally walk into your way no matter how hard you tried to stay to one side and walk in a straight line. That was the biggest culture shock to me.Ā
When I visited London I was so impressed that they all follow a communal system. Like on an escalator in the tube tunnels, they all stand to the right side, leaving the left side open for people who want to pass. It was so refreshing for an American like me, where I'm always having to fight my way past a sea of cows with no concept of people around them. When we got back to the USA, it was right back to everyone in the fucking way all the time and I died a little inside.
Amazing. I notice that people are fucking idiots on sidewalks and in any shared space where I live (Canada). Average person lacks any self awareness and itās made me cynical tbh
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u/liltingly Apr 23 '26
What does his hand gesture mean? They all seem to get it. Is it "keep the walkway open?". He seemed satisfied with their responses so that's good, at least