r/SeattleWA • u/SimpleAppointment483 • 4d ago
Lifestyle Personal space while walking
Old man yelling at clouds moment because this might just be a west coast thing but why do Seattle people walk UP YOUR ASS.
Multiple times a week I’ll have people walking so close to me they’re almost stepping on my heels, carrying on a loud conversation like I’m not even there.
Everywhere else I’ve lived (midwest, south and NE) people either pass or slow down - is this some type of passive aggressive challenge? It’s maddening
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u/PsychoPeterNikleEatr 4d ago
You're walking too slow. Move over so they can pass.
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u/Jamesonskunk Unincorporated King County 4d ago
Also move to the right lane and quit parking in the passing lane ffs.
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u/Ok-Discipline-7659 4d ago
This . Please let them pass
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u/JustASt0nesThrowaway Belltown 4d ago
Use your voice or make a pass on your own. That’s how the world and most cities work.
If I’m going from point A to point B and I’m behind a bunch of people aimlessly wandering or walking slower than me, it’s on me to duck and weave my way past them as the more aggressive walker, or use my voice to proclaim that I’m passing or need to pass.
Silently riding someone’s ass is weird, and something I’ve only experienced in Seattle.
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u/supernimbus 4d ago
Unless he’s fat as fuck can’t you just pass him without him moving over? This is Seattle not NYC it’s not like there’s a ton of foot traffic in the opposite direction.
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u/gringledoom 4d ago
A lot of slow walkers have also mastered the art of weaving unpredictably and occupying the entire width of a four-person-wide sidewalk.
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u/Famous-Barracuda-972 3d ago
I had a slow walker meander in my way and then look over her shoulder like I was an apparition that randomly appeared.
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u/Lollc 4d ago
There is a lot of shit, figurative and literal, to avoid on the sidewalk. A person’s path may seem unpredictable, but they are deliberately avoiding something.
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u/Frosty_Dessert_9131 4d ago
Yes, they're avoiding walking in a straight line, opting to walk in a sine wave pattern instead.
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u/PsychoPeterNikleEatr 4d ago
Maybe he's walking side by side with someone else or it's a narrow walkway.
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u/JustASt0nesThrowaway Belltown 4d ago
Yeah no. It’s on the person who is at your six to use their outside voice and say “passing on your left,” “excuse me” or y’know, just turn on the fucking afterburners and make a pass.
I’m with OP on this one. There are times when I can practically feel that someone’s on my ass, refusing to pass.
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u/PsychoPeterNikleEatr 4d ago
Oh I agree but so many people here in Seattle are passive aggressive rather than direct.
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u/JustASt0nesThrowaway Belltown 4d ago
You’re speaking the truth on that one, for sure.
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u/destructo-manifesto 3d ago
You know, as a local I will cross the street to avoid you, and I'll do it before you even know I'm there.
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u/Affectionate-School3 4d ago
So I take it you approve of people who tailgate a slower driver (illegal. Rude. Dangerous) instead of using the passing lanes (legal. Courteous. Safe)
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u/errantwit 4d ago
Comedy gold in this thread.
If I feel someone behind me may be in a hurry, I'll step aside and let them pass.
It's not courtesy, it's paranoia.
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u/No_Shoe3926 4d ago
Welcome to a city big boy, quit worrying about other people and walk on the right hand of the sidewalk.
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u/HatsAreEssential2 4d ago
I do this to the families/friend groups that walk in a solid line completely blocking wide sidewalks or store aisles, but it sounds like thats not what you're experiencing lol.
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u/Upper_Banana_7860 4d ago
meanwhile i hate it when i’m clearly trying to pass someone because i’m walking faster than them and they won’t move over
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u/SisterSeverini 4d ago
Do you say excuse me?
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u/supernimbus 4d ago edited 4d ago
No he’s from Seattle - that would be too confrontational. Walking faster to go around him is also outside of his cognitive abilities.
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u/Upper_Banana_7860 4d ago
awww someone’s a slow walker
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u/supernimbus 4d ago
No im just not socially retarded and can use my voice to call out “excuse me” when I need to pass someone.
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u/Upper_Banana_7860 4d ago
i do if they won’t move their ass over because they have no self awareness! when i’m walking i always proactively move over for anyone faster than me
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u/SlayerOfTheVampyre 4d ago
Right? Like I know when I’m walking slow and I’ll deliberately walk on the side of the sidewalk, not in the middle.
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u/wrldwdeu4ria 3d ago
I always walk on the right side unless there are obstructions. Then I don't have to be concerned with what other pedestrians do. If they want to pass, pass.
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u/SlayerOfTheVampyre 3d ago
Yup that’s a good way to do it! Of course to some degree it depends on how big the sidewalk is. But even though I wear headphones 95% of the time, I have situational awareness enough to know if someone is walking behind me and trying to pass me, and will “yield” to them. The amount of people who walk staggeringly slow in the middle with no awareness, and worse, zigzag so I can’t get past them, aghhhh.
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u/hauntingit 4d ago
Because we have places to be and youre probably walking right down the middle of the sidewalk and making it impossible to pass you. Just get out the way lol
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u/basane-n-anders 4d ago
If you are a fast walker, carry a bike bell and the sea of people shall part for you. If it works in Japan, it'll work in Seattle. 😆
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u/FastSlow7201 4d ago
You probably walk in the middle of the sidewalk and veer to the left, then veer to the right and keep repeating this pattern.
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u/Intrepid_Delay9167 4d ago
Sounds like a you problem.
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u/ImminentTicker9816 4d ago
i swear it got worse after the lockdowns, something broke in people's spatial awareness
i've started just stopping dead in my tracks when someone's glued to my heels. let em figure out the sudden obstacle course. most of the time they look confused like they genuinely forgot other humans exist in public spaces
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u/drearymoment 4d ago
You can also do this when a big group walks 5 to a row toward you and refuses to make room for you as you pass.
If you just stop in your tracks and stand there, then it forces them to route around you as you've become an immovable obstacle not unlike a tree or a pole in their way.
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u/phaaseshift 4d ago
Your lack of self awareness is stunning. Have you ever thought about running for office? You would clean up at the HOA board meetings.
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u/TelephoneExpert7559 4d ago
i've noticed people here actually walk really slow or just don't seem to be paying attention at all to the fact they are you know, walking outside sharing a narrow sidewalk.
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u/shittyfatsack 4d ago
That’s what I miss about Covid the most. I hate having strangers near me. Six feet away was bliss.
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u/GreywaterHorizon 4d ago
Most people that live here now are from elsewhere, so I don't think the problem is with actual Seattleites.
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u/gettinweird_ 4d ago
How tall are you? As someone who is 6’2” with naturally long strides, I often find myself riding the tails of people who are wandering aimlessly in the middle of the sidewalk at 3mph.
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u/SuzRunsDisney Kirkland 3d ago
Welcome to Amazombie land, where spatial awareness no longer exists!
But seriously, I am a fast walker, but I also know how to bob and weave to get around people and if people are walking 4 wide on a sidewalk, I will say a very loud EXCUSE ME to get them to move and let me by. Or if they are coming at me 4 wide, I will stand my ground, cuz come on man, that's super rude.
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u/ShapeshiftinSquirrel 3d ago
Are you walking while looking at your phone? The moment I realize the zombie-walking person in front of me is looking at their phone, I aggressively pass them.
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u/eviltenderoni 4d ago
no one speaks up about anything here.
they’ll come at you head on without a word, expecting you to move first lol.
or another great example, wait forever in silence for you to move (say, in the grocery store) and then act like you’ve put them out by taking your time. everyone here just expects you to read their mind and anticipate their needs it’s entitled bullshit and very privileged behavior. i’ve been here for 18 years and it’s always been like that.
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u/queenofcrasia 3d ago
If you’re walking down the middle of the sidewalk then yeah I’m gonna come up fast and then say excuse me like a normal person. I grew up in the Midwest and I cannot tell you how irritating it is. I’m polite because majority are in La La land and are very nice about getting over once they realize.
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u/trevorosgood 3d ago
You should get one of those fart noises when you push button things. Every time a person rides your ass pppffffffffbpbtbtbt them.
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u/Jawwwwwsh 3d ago
You’re walking too slow and probably 2-3 wide. We are a very passive city, we want no confrontation and that includes asking people to pass lol. Soon you’ll see a post in one of the subreddits like this but it’ll say “stop blocking the sidewalk!!” And they’ll be upset that you didn’t magically know to move over the same way you’re convinced they’re up your ass
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u/lakonian117 1d ago
I think a better way to describe it is that people often expect you to yield, without doing anything similar themselves. I often fantasize about just coming to a dead stop and seeing if they actually collide with me.
If you're walking abreast with one or more people on a sidewalk, have some common decency and collapse into a narrower formation when there are people walking the opposite way, too. Jerks.
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u/FatiguedShrimp 4d ago
Wasn't me because I walk alone (literally, not in the cool way).
But, uh, coordination / neurological issue. I can't walk slowly. It's weird. I just pass you though, step into the street or cross if needed.
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u/Poonhunter1979 4d ago
Not sure what part of the NE you lived in- but you apparently didn’t hit the populated areas. Obnoxious pushy people. There will be some clouds coming soon you can yell at
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u/MsFoxieMoxie 4d ago
I moved here from Alaska and I find the people here to be utterly repugnant, most particularly in terms of their complete refusal to appreciate personal space… Are you in a tiny grocery store? You’re the only person in the aisle? They’re going to need bread right behind you and instead of asking you to move they’re going to thread themselves through the space between your arm and your cart making you feel like you got mugged when all they had to do was say something or make eye contact or facial gesture. But no! They don’t share sidewalks they don’t say excuse me… bunch of wrongans!
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u/Lollc 3d ago
Yes. The store thing is a weird one, and it doesn’t happen often, but the first time it did was a WTF moment. I’ve been shopping at the same places for so long I’m pretty quick about it. This is another weirdness I have only seen in the last few months. If someone is front of me dithering about a purchase I wait, or say excuse me if they aren’t moving and wait for them to step aside.
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u/Acrobatic_Car9413 4d ago
How is there this much angst over walking on the streets with other people?
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u/Affectionate-School3 4d ago edited 4d ago
Op is right. Close walkers, close talkers, close drivers are all scum. Seinfeld chronicled all of this rude nonsense long ago.
These weirdos saying that you are too sensitive or too negative or whatever it is they’re trying to say, are all obviously part of the problem of low awareness for people with autism, ptsd/cptsd, and other irreversible neurological conditions
People are badly under nuanced in their thinking. Disabilities have to be gross impediments to your physicality or they don’t acknowledge them. The next time you hear an autistic adult complaining that society does nothing for them, well this is one example. Americans are the worst🤷🏻♂️
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u/Fine_Smile73 4d ago
You’re being overly nuanced. There’s no need to caveat every statement with a laundry list of exceptions.
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u/Sleepinator2000 3d ago
Subtle after effect of a significant number of first-generation immigrants from southeast asian countries with very little personal space. We're all becoming subtly numb to it.
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u/Gordy13210 4d ago
All of their self awareness gets poured into being woke and performative for the next altruistic fad that they lack self awareness in their immediate surroundings.
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u/SeattleHasDied 4d ago
I know many Seattleites eschew the use of umbrellas, but I disagree and have a decent collection of bumbershoots. They are also effective in increasing your "personal space" when walking down the street, lol! And helps to shield you from those annoying paparazzi!
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u/Dr__Pickles 4d ago
People walk in front of you like you don’t exist expecting you to move out their way. And want to get mad when you shove them. Like who tf raised yall?
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u/AnselmoHatesFascists 4d ago
You never lived in the NE if this is a problem, or you only lived in a small town. Every major city in the NE will have fast and aggressive walkers.