Are you really in so much of a hurry?

This is a two-fer...two incidents in one blog!

Incident #1:

Today I was running errands. I went to Target and as I was pushing my cart up one of the main aisles, I passed a lady stopped in the middle of it checking her phone or a list or something. While some of you may think that my beef is with her stopping in the middle of the aisle (which, now that I think about it, is annoying). But it's not. On the side of the aisle I was walking, there was an employee stopped unloading a pallet of goods. I would have to go around him. I am fine with that. All of a sudden, I look to my left and see the woman who was previously stopped in the middle of the aisle speed walking towards me. It's as if she is trying to beat me around the guy unloading the goods. So to test out my theory, I walked faster. Sure enough, so did she. We were neck and neck all the way to the merging point when I backed off and let her go first. I suppose it's the least I could do since she was in such a hurry to get in front of me.

Incident #2:

The other day I was walking through the skyway downtown during lunch. As you may know, lunchtime downtown is busy. As I approached the end of one skyway, I could see the door into the next building starting to close. In the same spirit of selfishness as the woman at Target, the man walking in front of me scooted sideways through the closing door. I'm not sure if he didn't realize that it was busy and there were many other people in the skyway needing to get through the door, or if he was just in too much of a hurry to open it on his way through. Or maybe he didn't have the strength needed to push open the door. Who knows.

What I do know is that walking through the world as if you are the only person in existence doesn't help anyone. Not cool, guys.

Space Invaders

I'm a person who likes my personal space. If I don't know you, I don't really want you in my "bubble." Case in point: if you are on the escalator behind me, please don't stand on the step immediately behind me. Please leave a step inbetween us. That would make me much more comfortable, and if you thought about it, it would probably make you much more comfortable as well. I would do that for you.

Likewise, stepping on my heels is probably not going to make me walk faster. If you are in a much bigger hurry than I am, wait for an appropriate time and walk around me. If you walk on my heels, I will probably just walk slower. However, on that same note, if you are not keeping pace with the traffic, then you should probably move to the side and let others pass. Not stop in the middle of the walkway to figure out where you're going, or to chat with a long lost friend you happened to run into. Move to the side. It's just more considerate and would ease a lot of traffic jams.

Some people seem to be oblivious to the fact that they are not the most important people around, or the only ones that need to get somewhere. I will be the first to admit that I am not a very patient person when I am driving. However, I am aware of it and try to correct it. I am thankfully not oblivious to those around me. If more people would just not stop in the middle of the hallway, or right in front of a doorway, and would respect people's personal space a little bit more, I think the world would be a much better place.

We all should have turtles on our shoulders reminding us to just "have patience."