Boy, I want to hate on rich people too, but time pressure is a thing. Are you going to start defending people who are standing in my way in the middle of sidewalks because they don't have the sense to step to the side rather than blocking pedestrian traffic? Because if you are, we are going to have words.
I mean, being demonstratively impatient is rude. But being unnecessarily slow and inconveniencing people by holding them up is also rude, and feeling impatient about is certainly something I have been guilty of. Frequently.
I go back and forth on this. On the one hand, jesus christ Texans, pick up the fucking pace and quit repeating yourself. On the other hand, when I shrug and roll with it, I feel better about everything in life.
Jesus, I would love to be the person who is all "time doesn't exist anyway, man" but Jesus, am I not.
I did that this morning. In our work canteen the person in front of me [a visitor, or some kind of other variety of doddery fuck] spent so long trying to get themselves a coffee and meal, that I put my food and cup back and walked out. I don't think I conveyed any particular impatience or rudeness up until that point, I was just politely waiting until the point where my meeting was about to start, and I had to fuck off. I suspect they noticed, though.
We're always in a terrible rush because we just thought of something really clever and if we don't post it fast enough we'll get pwned.
feeling impatient about is certainly something I have been guilty of
As long as you hadn't just stepped out of your Maserati, I think you're in the clear.
The presumption of shmuckerty* that surrounds people who step out of Maseratis is very strong. There are actually very few things a person stepping out of a Maserati can do to absolve themselves. What would be a normal demonstration of impatience for most people is, for them, absolutely damning. It's a heavy burden they carry.
* Shmuckerty?? I'm just following the OP...
Of course, if people are hating on the rich/upper middle classes in general, I applaud.
I'll come back to this one.
Argh. Better be soon. Waiting!
There ought to be some amount of money Maserati could pay Food Stamp User (or Guy Who's Taking Too Long) for their place in line that would make everyone better off.
10: The free market solves all problems. We need to deregulate FIFO queues and turn them into priority queues.
Hey, I drive a Maserati. Umm, I ride in a Maserati anyway. And, I'm just about the mellowest person alive. Sometimes I take a nap right in the middle of a song.
It's a heavy burden they carry.
And yet, small enough that it can fit inside a Maserati.
Also, Maserati should consider ordering groceries (or prepared meals if time is so scarce) so they don't have to wait in line and mutually antagonize Guy Who's Taking Too Long.
re: 10
Those 'Food Stamp User' and 'Guy who's taking too long' aren't the same thing, though. The former is taking a long time because of some process or other they have no choice but to comply with. The latter just needs a boot up the arse.
I do, however, agree with the sentiment that people need to hurry the fuck up already.
Can't you buy a Maserati using food stamps these days? After all, its not like any self-respecting Welfare Queen would be seen in a Cadillac anymore.
11: no, the free market and/or a boot up the arse solves all problems.
I thought of 6 first but had to finish punching my way through all those grandmas.
a visitor, or some kind of other variety of doddery fuck makes me very happy.
Hey, John Huston in The Visitor might be old, but he is very capable.
During my recent trip to Beijing I realized how amazingly patient absolutely everyone in this country is. There if you hesitate for a millisecond in the line to get lunch there will suddenly be six people who have pushed in front of you.
It's not so much impatience, I think, as simply having no concept of queues as an orderly and ordered line. Though the habits of Beijing taxi drivers would also point to impatience. And insanity.
Although now that I think about it, I don't think anyone actually shoved me at any time while I was there. Whereas shoving happened a lot when I was in Korea.
There are actually very few things a person stepping out of a Maserati can do to absolve themselves.
1. Be an extremely attractive woman.
2. Don't be an extremely attractive woman stepping out of a Maserati while clinging to grubby Mammon's corpulent homunculus.
17 - particularly after that douchebag-tastic ad.
17 - particularly after that douchebag-tastic ad.
Yeah, it is that douchebag-tastic.
I'm allergic to wasting people's time in lines, as well as to blocking paths, aisles, or in/eg-resses. I detest when others do same.
My favourite Maserati thing was getting 'stuck' on the M1 in deep snow. Where by 'stuck' I mean, me cruising slowly past people in Maseratis spinning helplessly.
It's not so much impatience, I think, as simply having no concept of queues as an orderly and ordered line.
I sometimes think taht's sometimes the case, when outside the UK. Other times, I think people understand the concept perfectly well, but don't think anyone will have the balls to stop them. I saw that happen at the Louvre with a Chinese tour party.
30: Does the UK have a lot of queue-policing for those who violate the norm?
30: Does the UK have a lot of queue-policing for those who violate the norm?
We have an entire society built on queue policing.
What 32 said. I've certainly stopped people queue jumping me.
But it's okay because the queue police don't carry guns.
||
Fuck:
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/mar/31/guinea-ebola-epidemic-medecins-sans-frontieres
>
32: Truly we lost something valuable when we rebelled.
This excerpt from later in the thread in 37 has been my experience with buses around here:
Queueing vs free for all can be an aspect of topography and circumstance as well as culture. I live in London* and where pavements are narrow people will form an orderly queue for the bus but where there is a lot of space and people its tends to be a free for all. Ditto trains: getting on the train in the morning people distribute themselves along the platform feigning casual indifference (though in reality jockeying for position while pretending otherwise) then make a mad dash for the doors when the train turns up; a one queue for two windows system always spontaneously emerges when it comes to buying tickets in the ticket office. Tube stations sit somewhere in between: queues emerge at the last possible minute from a spontaneous mass. (Something close to a maximally efficient system for getting a large number of people through a fixed number of barriers I suspect, fewer barriers and bigger queues emerge sooner).
Err, the first part, with the feigning casual indifference. Quite an acquired skill.
ll. Ditto trains: getting on the train in the morning people distribute themselves along the platform feigning casual indifference (though in reality jockeying for position while pretending otherwise) then make a mad dash for the doors when the train turns up
It's not just available space, though. For instance at my station the platforms are marked with where the carriage doors are going to line up, and people form queues at those points before the train arrives.
re: 40
I remember an ex g/friend pointing out to me, in Glasgow, that because the tubes are generally the full length of the [tiny] platform, the doors almost always open in the right place. If you look for the scuffed clean patches on the platform, you can spot where the doors will be. Sidle up to the nearest unoccupied shiny spot, and wait. Bingo.
Similarly, at Oxford station, I always know where the doors will open for my favourite carriage. There there's always a little scrum that forms spontaneously into a queue, roughly in order of who was there first, as the train pulls up.
The story in 37 is great. Almost a little too perfect but still really great.
I think of myself as a patient person, but then someone decides to exchange pleasantries with the cashier or they don't have exact cash at a toll or an easy pass. I find myself entirely too angered by their slowness. (Do I get a Maserati now?)
42 would work better here if we didn't have two kinds of subway cars with doors in different places.
There are some bus stops here where people form orderly lines and some where they just herd. I haven't quite figured out what drives it.
Boarding the Silver Line to the airport here is the one transit-related time here when I get really annoyed that we don't have an orderly line. People with giant suitcases always push in front of me and start using up the luggage racks, even if I was at the platform waiting for the bus before they were.
It's pretty hard to justify driving a Maserati, which is most definitely the stupidest value-for-money luxury car. Though you're probably less likely to be a truly clueless asshole than an Lamborghini driver (if I wasn't on a phone I'd link to "The most stereotypical Lamborghini driver in the world," you all should Google it if you haven't done so already.)
Cars are probably the single best piece of information we have for reaching snap judgments of people.
Cars are probably the single best piece of information we have for reaching snap judgments of people.
This is 100% true if the people you're judging are in cars, with the windows rolled up, on the highway.
I also have the impression some of us are developing a new meta-queuing culture, where a formal line might not form but when there's a conflict the default is to let the other person through first, to give precedence to those in a hurry. (Particularly on buses.)
And the judgment you're reaching is what kind of car they're driving.
Well, I certainly assume anyone driving an SUV is a prick [or female equivalent thereof]. Anyone driving an Audi will be transparently driving like a prick, so the judgement will be especially easy.
Though you're probably less likely to be a truly clueless asshole than an Lamborghini driver (if I wasn't on a phone I'd link to "The most stereotypical Lamborghini driver in the world," you all should Google it if you haven't done so already.)
My stereotype of a Lamborghini driver is an AI. I'm not sure I've ever encountered a real one.
This is 100% true if the people you're judging are in cars, with the windows rolled up, on the highway.
Bumper stickers?
IME people with tons of bumper stickers are either right wingers or animal rights activists.
Here, because BART stops at a fixed place on the platform, there are lines for the doors, and then if it turns out to be a train somewhere a person in line is not going, they stand there like cattle, which I know is plural and they're only one person but yes, like cattle, while people behind them who ARE going where that train is going contemplate shoving them, especially if they spent the last ten years somewhere with a thriving culture of shoving.
I too have observed the people just standing there when the train "turns out" (it's announced, everyone, you already know) not to be the desired line. It's really annoying because then if you go past them it feels like cutting in line! But they aren't moving!
On many occasions I've missed my boarding call at the airport, because I was dutifully standing behind people in a later group. If it's not your turn to board, just back the fuck up already.
Actually, some airline now has a labeled spot for each group to line up, so that you can tell that the D group people are just eager, and that if you're C group, you should board and not wait for them.
I just wait till everybody else has boarded. Why would I want to stand in line when I can just sit here and read the paper?
I just wait till everybody else has boarded. Why would I want to stand in line when I can just sit here and read the paper?
Because you'll have to check your carry-on luggage.
many years ago, wife and i were coming back from a little Sunday drive up to visit my parents, north of Albany, NY. it was late afternoon, almost no traffic when we got off I87 and stopped at the light at the bottom of the off-ramp. up behind us comes this big yellow rumbling Lamborghini. it comes to a stop, and then the noise stops. the engine had shut off. and when i look back, i can see the owner trying to re-start the thing, unsuccessfully. then he gets out, waves at me in the mirror and asks for a jump. his lady is fuming in the passenger's seat.
so i turn my 87 beetle-green Hyundai Excel around to face this giant yellow Italian monster, pop my hood. then he does something in his cockpit that pops open a tiny door on his hood. it's about 6"x4", and it's a door where jumper cables live. it has built-in jumper cables and a door dedicated to accessing them. my Hyundai has no such door, but its 1.5L is enough to get his engine turned over and rumbling again.
his lady never once made eye contact with us.
why not invest in a better alternator (or whatever), instead of having built-in jumper cables ?????
61: I hope you charged him $50 for the jump. You know he had it on him.
Anyhow, I've linked it before, but here is the most stereotypical Lamborghini owner in the world. I kind of love this guy, there is a point where being the best at almost anything is admirable, even being the best at being a dick.
I shouldn't have clicked on Halford's link. My renewed faith in humanity after reading 37 is completely gone.
On many occasions I've missed my boarding call at the airport, because I was dutifully standing behind people in a later group. If it's not your turn to board, just back the fuck up already.
I hate these people.
I just wait till everybody else has boarded. Why would I want to stand in line when I can just sit here and read the paper?
Because presumably there is a reason for the boarding groups: window seats first, then middle seats, then aisle, so that nobody has to do that stupid fucking dance where you have to get out of your seat to let someone else in.
That used to be the reason, but now it seems that it's been changed so that the purpose is to use early boarding as a reward.
Usually boarding groups are ordered by status, not by location on the plane. I'm always in an aisle seat and usually the other people in my row board after me.
I don't like people in high-numbered boarding groups. They stand around being confused and blocking everyone's way. I'm so glad I'm not in group 1. They must be important but they do so much flying. It's good to be a group 2.
Because you'll have to check your carry-on luggage.
Huh?
Because presumably there is a reason for the boarding groups: window seats first, then middle seats, then aisle, so that nobody has to do that stupid fucking dance where you have to get out of your seat to let someone else in.
I've never been on a flight which did that. It's usually either free-for-all-unless-you've-paid-extra (budget airlines), or arranged by row number (flag carriers).
Hmm. It's true I've never observed window seats being occupied first, but I assumed it was because the assholes that heebie describes is 58 were fucking it all up.
71: You imagined yourself into a more rational universe!
70 -- You are clearly familiar only with the topless European commercial airline industry. In the US, if you're in the last group, the space in the overhead bins has been taken so that if you have a carry-on bag of reasonable size you will be forced to check it at the gate. (Remember, checking your bag costs extra).
And if you are in the last group, you will, because you are probably a loser, have some kind of middle seat. Although this is an assigned seat, to get into it you will have to force the person with higher status to stand up from his or her aisle seat to let you through, either (a) forcing that person into the aisle or (b) creating some uncomfortable butt-to-crotch contact as you slide past the half-standing aisle seat holder.
70.1: Now that we have to pay extra for each checked bag, but we don't have to pay for carry-on luggage, everyone brings the maximum size carry-on luggage.
This means there isn't enough room for everyone's carry-on luggage, so some of us have to check it anyway when we get to the airplane. But that way we have the benefit of being sure it'll be on the airplane with us.
Because presumably there is a reason for the boarding groups: window seats first, then middle seats, then aisle, so that nobody has to do that stupid fucking dance where you have to get out of your seat to let someone else in.
At least where I'm from, boarding groups are assigned by the airline based on frequent-flyer/those stupid gold/platinum status things. I fly a couple of times a year and am inevitably in the last group to board. This has never had anything to do with whether I have an aisle seat or a window seat. It's actually the product of checked-bag fees, I think - everyone has those giant roller bags as carry-ons now, so if you get on last you run the risk of not having any room left in the overhead bins.
73.1 was slightly unintentionally misleading; you won't be charged for checking your bag, but if you're in the last boarding group you will, these days, almost invariably be forced to check your carry-on, which is a big pain in the ass.
I've never had to check my carry-on. It seems like a lot of people actually do it intentionally, because they want to check it at the gate so it won't get lost, instead of checking it 2 hours before boarding half a mile away and who knows where it'll end up.
You can tell that Halford pays to check his luggage, because he doesn't know that gate check is free.
Checking a carry-on is only mildly annoying, IME. You just have to wait 10 minutes or so at the gate to get it when you land. But I almost never gate-check because I usually check a suitcase and only carry a backpack on.
Intentionally gate-checking your bag is often a good strategy if you're running late for a flight. You need a bag that's just slightly bigger than carry-on size; either you check it at the gate and make your flight or they let it on as a carry-on and you make your flight. Intentionally checking your bag in such a situation is for suckers.
70.1: most flights I've been on in the last few years have room in the cabin for about 1/2 to 2/3 of the carry on luggage that people are trying to bring on to the plane. If you're one of the later people to board the plane, you are very likely to find all of the carry-on storage taken, and you will be asked to check your carry-on under the plane, for pickup at the gate when you arrive at your destination. This has happened to me many times.
Even if you're able to find room in the cabin storage, if you're not one of the early boarders, that room is quite liekly to be many rows away from your seat, as people around you will have already taken all of the storage near you, making your carry-on inaccessible as a practical matter during the flight.
Of course I don't ever pay to check a bag because I use the United MileagePlus Explorer card from Chase.
But I almost never gate-check because I usually check a suitcase and only carry a backpack on.
OMG. With the amount you fly this is a truly stunning loser's move.
84 is a good example of how sponsorships changes comments.
70 -- You are clearly familiar only with the topless European commercial airline industry. In the US, if you're in the last group, the space in the overhead bins has been taken so that if you have a carry-on bag of reasonable size you will be forced to check it at the gate
Ah. I travel pretty light, so this wouldn't apply to me. I check one suitcase and I bring a small backpack or equivalent on board with my gadgets and books and food, and just shove it under the seat - the only thing I might put in the overhead compoartement is a coat.
the game of FLYING! But also just having one easy bag that you pick up and roll with from the airport, avoiding having to wait for a checked bag.
84: That sounds cool! I bet it costs a lot of money to have a cool credit card like that!
89: On the other hand, you have to wheel the damn bag around the terminal with you while waiting for your flight. No thanks.
It would make way more sense to be having this discussion about checking bags versus carry-on in the Bidens thread.
I'm used to gate-checked bags being unloaded in the jet bridge, which can be slow but is faster than the baggage claim, but recently on one flight it got passed on to the baggage claim with all the rest, which was annoying.
My measure of winning in the game of flying is fraction of flight hours during which the seat next to me is empty so I don't feel too sardined in. Lately it's well over 50%.
I haven't actually flown that much in almost 5 years now. But every time I head to the airport I feel like I'm getting back into the ring.
It's plausible that where resources are reliable shmuckerty is a successful adaptive strategy, and where resources are unpredictable cooperation is a better strategy. I think L1oyd Deμetrius is working on this for humans; fossorial rodents fit it very nicely (California pocket gophers: as solitary as biologically possible for mammals; South African naked mole rats: as eusocial as ditto.)
Thinking of human shmucks as snaggletoothed methane-digesting rodents would be more flattering if it didn't leave me as a naked mole rat. Maybe I can be an Aplodontia rufa.
My flight back from England (via Ireland) was on a (packed, obviously) 757. It was very sad. My flight over was on the typical gloriously half-empty widebody jet you'd expect from an unprofitable, nationally subsidized carrier. But no, on the way back I guess the route is short enough to use the Boeing Xtra-Narrow LegCrusher.
If you're one of the later people to board the plane, you are very likely to find all of the carry-on storage taken, and you will be asked to check your carry-on under the plane, for pickup at the gate when you arrive at your destination.
This actually worked out to my advantage when I was flying to Boston: the guy in the middle seat in my row (at the front of the plane) was one of the last people to board, and by the time he got on the only overhead storage was at the back. So he moved to a seat near his bag and we got an empty seat in our row.
Then on the flight back I upgraded to first class. Holy shit was that possibly the best money I have ever spent in my life.
recently on one flight it got passed on to the baggage claim with all the rest, which was annoying
I'm going to be flying solo with Zardoz soon, and boy oh boy am I hoping that doesn't happen with the gate-checked kid stuff. (Stroller, etc.) I would be so pissed.
I think they (are supposed to) treat strollers, carseats, wheelchairs, etc differently than suitcases. So they're ready at the bottom of the jetway even when the gate-checked bags aren't.
||Essear: I just saw something on arxiv that could be your "Dinosaurs!" paper, but given the home institutes of the authors I don't think it is. Have you been scooped?|>
100 is my understanding, too. In fact, I think I've been on planes where our gate-checked strollers have been kept plane-side, while our gate-checked bags went to the baggage carousel.
101: No? Our paper was posted in March and has last four digits 0576. Maybe you mean Ho/lg/er Be/ch Nie/lse/n's Tung/us/ka paper that appeared within the last week? That was much crazier than our craziness.
One of the nice things about Alaska Airlines is that your first three checked bags are free if you're flying within Alaska.
I recently walked out of a grocery store with groceries partially checked in the self-checkout line. I'm sure this was an extremely rude thing to do but
1. the entire time I was waiting for the person in front of me to finish there were two people in the aisle next to me in conversation
2. it turned out they started their conversation because there was some problem with the machine in that aisle and a the guy in front was waiting for someone to help him
3. they continued to be in conversation and were still waiting for help while I started to check my stuff
4. at some point the guy must have asked to see a manager
5. my stuff reported an error because apparently you can't swipe things through efficiently and if there are two cans of soup on the conveyor belt, one won't make it over the edge to the bagging area and then the weight will be thrown off and the machine will say it's canceling your purchase but it won't make it clear if it's canceling both cans or just one and then you're supposed to move one or both cans back to the start and re-swipe
6. I failed to follow the magic formula for starting the machine again on my own and instead got a wait for employee message
7. at this point an employee was at the next aisle to try to help the guy who'd been waiting there the whole time
8. I heard the employee ask "where was the guy who was here?"
9. the other guy who was next in line said "he got sick of waiting and left. I don't really blame him"
10. I thought that sounded like a good idea and didn't see any other employees and the employee didn't seem to care that I also had a stalled self-checkout machine and so after a minute I just walked out.
101: Nope, this was one about a gamma-ray burst causing the Cambrian explosion. Thanks for pointing me to yours - who knew the Solar system was such a hot topic for physicists?
107: I missed that! Ha. That's entertaining. I wonder why so many of these are coming out in the last month. Must be some extraterrestrial influence on our brains.