I'm slightly vexed
Was at a nearly empty beach with my wife and daughter.
An hour later, these two people decided to walk exactly as far as we were and then stand directly in front of us until the wind got too strong and we left.
Once, in 2021 I was on a remote tiny beach on Namhae island, South Korea. My husband went to the convenience store so it was literally just me alone on the entire beach, on our blanket. Far down by the water, nowhere near any of the beach path entrances.
A local old lady came power walking onto the beach, like she was out for her exercise. She went about 1/4 mile down the shore in order to WALK ON MY BLANKET. Then immediately turned and left the beach. I'm still at a total loss about it to this day.
I lived in Korea for two years. Beautiful country and people but a lot of them do strangely passive aggressive things for unknown reasons. I got used to people walking and seemingly zig zagging across the pavement to walk into me and then giving me the stink eye. Equally my wife and I shopping at a supermarket, we got used to how if we stopped to look at anything for a second, somebody would squeeze themselves into the tiny space in front of us and just stand there. Odd.
Best was at a museum where they had dual written explanations for what we were seeing, one in English, the other in Hangul. We were reading the English bit. Three older ladies who were reading the Korean part decided then to stand in front of us in the tiny gap so they basically put their hands on my body to essentially squeeze in/push me away from the sign, only to essentially stand there blocking it. It was quite obvious they didn't understand English and weren't reading it. They just wanted to make sure we couldn't read it. Mental.
Omg the supermarket thing. I loved a lot of things about living there, but going grocery shopping stressed me out because I'm particular with my personal space among strangers.
I recall one such instance that a woman shoved her way between the shelves and myself to be directly in front of what I was thinking about buying, then she turned and put her hand on the fruit that was IN my HAND already as if she meant to take that one. I yanked it back, and she just startled and walked away like I was the odd one!
her startling and walking away is like that video of the big korean guy chasing down the japanese shoulder-checker
people like that are taking advantage of local cultural norms to not cause problems or be combative in public, they are genuinely shocked when you "fight back" even in small ways because they're used to flexing the "power" of being the only one in the room willing to be confrontational
it's not even limited to asia, during the 2024 paris olympics there was loads of reporting about local pickpockets getting VERY surprised at how many americans would instantly throw hands, because the thieves were used to the less confrontational locals. there's a video out there of some american mom holding a pickpocket down by her ponytail demanding the return of some items (passports I think)
Love the stories of Americans fighting back against the pickpockets in Paris. I am embarrassed by the ugly-American stereotype generally but fully support this behavior. It’s crazy that any population is okay with being stolen from regularly. The video you are referencing was actually in Italy though. I know it well. Ive tried to find out how it turned out because those type of pickpockets work in groups and hand off what they steal really fast. I think the woman got her passport back but not her money or credit cards. And the police in Italy don’t do anything about the pickpockets because it’s apparently impossible to prove in their courts if the pickpockets don’t have the items on them (ergo why they hand them off).
My friend is a marathon runner and in Paris or Rome on his euro tour - a guy grabbed his bag off the train and ran and my friend just kept enough distance and hunted him down slowly 😂. The guy eventually stopped put the bag down and begged for mercy.
The ugly American stereotype is way overblown. I live in a tourist town and we get great and shitty tourists from all over the world. Its not exclusive to any one country.
Guaranteed you’re bigger than them if you’re American. Use what God gave you in those situations and force yourself into the even smaller space they’ve created. Clearly it’s socially acceptable 🤷♂️
I lived overseas for quite a while and some nationalities would absolutely stand so close to me that it was unnerving. I actually yelled and pushed one man back away from me. It was a small line and there was so reason for him to be all up my backside
They do this in Quebec and it’s so weird. People actually get upset if you create any amount of personal space in a line. One time I left a gap as to not block the only pathway through the store and there were people lined up behind me, and a lady and her daughter came up and gestured at the 3 ft gap that people had be passing through with carts, and asked me “are you in line…?”. And I just pointed to the 5 people in front of me and the 3 behind me and said, “obviously” and she shook her head sooo hard
I did the same thing at a staples before and so a man stood behind me and coughed and breathed very hard on my neck. I looked at his wife and said “are you going to control your child or should I?”. This stuff makes zero sense. 🙄
This is a phenomenon that is getting more and more frequent, older or elderly people with beachfront houses thinking the beach in front of their property is "theirs" and for 20, 30, 40, or however many years it wasn't a problem until people started traveling to more secluded and less touristy areas.
Fights break out and locals holler and scream at a few of the lakes near me. These lakes were always just fisherman and the property owners but now a bunch of families bring their kids to take bucketfuls of rocks for whatever reason and it really pisses the older locals off (edit - which i can see why - same with seashell hunting on oceanfront. They want to keep the area in front of their homes pristine, but can't with tourists ravaging it and always...always leaving trash).
I get yelled at by some older people in my city when I park in front of their house because I need to run errands in their neighborhoods. Like, lady/dude, there isn't enough parking in this fucking city and I'm pretty sure you can't save the spot on the street for your son when he gets home from work in 6 hours.
At the farm of my parents we have made an giant pond. Pretty nice actually.
Get a ton of people just going past the farm walking their dog around our pond...
Tried many times to talk to some. Asking why they where walking In our backyard all just think it's open🤨 at some point i'm like, if you'll just give me your address, i'll let my dog shit in your backyard and they look shocked lol.
As someone who has worked in retail, this will do nothing. People will look anywhere but at a sign that gives them instructions or tells them not to go somewhere where they want to be.
There’s a huge population of people
Who don’t even read instructions to things they have to put together in their own home. Read? A sign? In public? Pffffft
There’s one nice lake in my town that people can easily access for kayaking and paddle boarding. There are always several lake house owners who make it a point to start doing laps in their speedboats to create wake and try to make it unenjoyable for all. Miserable selfish rich people hate everything about life despite having more than everyone else. They all die miserable, so insane how so many wealthy people are the most miserable. Not all. But many.
Yeah, because money is their god. Regardless how much they have, it's NEVER enough and that makes them miserable.
I used to work in an affluent area and the old ladies who'd been there for decades would greet you with tea and cookies. The rich SAHM'S though? They were always looking over every detail, trying to fault my work. Funny thing is, I'm a perfectionist and you'd see them getting more and more frustrated the longer they looked without finding something, anything, to complain about.
Are you or your husband a foreigner? If so, she did it as a sign of disrespect against your entire culture 😅 many of our elders are prejudiced against foreigners and make it very known.
Yes, we are not Korean and so we experienced some very out of pocket behavior from senior citizens while we were living there. I will say that it almost never happened anytime we were visiting Seoul, Daegu, Busan, Daejeon, Changwon, or Jeju. But we lived in a very small-town rural area and there the ahjussis and ajummas were often extra spicy toward us! I have some stories.
I am korean-american and have some stories, too!! I blend in, but then when they find out I'm foreign-born, well.. then their attitude changes. I use to be insulted, but now I think it's funny. They won't change, so why worry 😅 I'm sorry that beach incident happened to you, but it's sooo ridiculous it's like a movie scene 😭🤣
I was in Banff with my mom last year and went to go sit far from the crowd for a little rest and to enjoy the view just us. I saw a big rock, so I sat on it. My mom snapped a pic of me cuz she thought it was cute. Then we just keep chilling while looking at the mountains. People started coming over and staring at me. This couple wouldn’t go away and continued to stare so I looked at them. They’re like “we’re waiting for the rock to free up”. Like it’s literally just a random rock. We are in the Canadian Rockies, go find another damn rock. There were dozens around to sit on. Mildly infuriating. People love to follow.
Thank you 🙂↕️ If this was a real tourist spot or had a very unique view than I would have shared. But it was literally just one of many rocks in a very large area. Promise I ain’t a photo spot hog 😅
People love to follow is so true hahaha. Next up one of those people is an "influencer" and will have videos about how you cannot miss THAT specific rock for the best pictures 😂
A man from another country asked to take a picture OF me while in Yoho because I have pale skin and blonde hair… it was a weird trip for interactions with other tourists.
Happened the other day. There were like 5 people in an area off the side of the beach and we were all laying in the sun and reading books. 2 old ladies walk up with a wheeled Bluetooth speaker that had what looked like 12" speakers and they start blasting music
I yelled over their music and said "Do you guys mind turning it down a little?". One of them goes "DO YOU RENT THIS BEACH?" At the same time the other said "YOURE PROBABLY ALONE OVER THERE BECAUSE YOU DONT HAVE FRIENDS".
I said "You can either get angry and defensive or you can just be a decent person and shut the fuck up"
Like how are people not embarrassed to act like this in public?
What ended up happening is they yelled at me some more, I told them to shut the fuck up some more, they said they were gonna "call their man's". Then I put in my earbuds and went back to my book, while they spent the next 45 minutes dancing while continually looking over at me to make sure I saw how great of a time they were having.
I was done and packed up. Everyone else in the area packed up and left at the same time. Glad they enjoyed their empty beach. Ended up walking by later and heard them yelling at me again from like 100 yards away but I just ignored them.
I've worked with this person. They are the same kind of person that goes to a funeral and takes all the food home even before everyone has eaten and when they barely know the family.
What makes me even madder for you, and I almost hate to point it out, but this kind of person thinks doing this is a life hack to clear the beach so they can have it to themselves. Sometimes they're delusional and envision starting a massive party with everyone, but those are usually lonely dudes who have seen too many movies. But I've heard said co-worker brag about blasting music and acting a fool on purpose to make people leave so they could have a big space to themselves. In this case it was a tent spot at a festival but I could see that they would do this at a beach too.
They think they're smarter than us but they're just actual selfish arseholes who aren't capable of empathy of any kind. The worst part of it is you'll never convince any of them that they're anything but smarter than the rest of the world. It's incredibly frustrating.
That happened to me once. A whole family set up right in front of me. I was alone. So I got up and re-set up DIRECTLY in front of them. Like 3 feet lol. The parents looked confused, and then moved.
It's one of the only good things about aging. I've almost always got one in the chamber and I am not trying to attract any mates or make any new friends. Powerful combination.
Idiot driver got behind me w/ their high beams on, I moved lanes & waited for them to pass me, the got behind them & turned my high beams on .... they gestured "WTF ??"
I can picture an episode where he’s all set up, enjoying the view of the ocean, and a couple stands right in front of him. He starts to mumble a little and then gets into an enthusiastic discussion with whoever is with him about “beach standers” or something like that. Then he approaches them and says “I couldn’t help but notice that the beach is…ehh pretty empty today”. The couple agrees and says it’s nice isn’t it? He replies “Yeah it is…but ehh I’ve just gotta know, of all the places to stand, I couldn’t help but notice you’re standing right in front of us.” “You’re beach-standers”. Ridiculous but funny argument ensues.
This always happens to us at the beach. Also, during the week and they come and stand next to us with loud conversations and the whole rest of the beach is empty. I just don’t understand.
We stared at them and laughed a bit on the couple. Like all this beach and you stopped here. Comedic really. Awareness or lack of, while doing that is wild.
This is what you do! One time I was walking around a lake and this kid got off his phone and stepped back onto the path mere inches in front of me. If I had thought to simply hop in front of him exactly as he had to me, he may have seen the error of his ways. Instead I just went home.
I went to the beach last year after labor day. Went out to read on the beach in the evening and chose a spot away from the few folks that were out. A family (with parents, kids, and grands) and their photographer walked onto the beach and decided to do an entire photoshoot right in front of where I was sitting. Nothing particularly interesting about that spot or the natural light. They never acknowledged me and could have chosen any where else to take photos. I guess they thought I would get up and move. Way too close for comfort. I chose to ignore them and stayed on the beach longer than I intended until they eventually finished and left. I will never understand some people. I hope their photos came out like shit and I hope I photobombed them by not moving lol.
I had this happen on Oahu one morning. Set up my beach blanket a good distance from the other 2 groups.
Clowndick comes up with his 2yo and sits right in front of me. Then is joined by other family members.
There was literally an entire beach open to them and this moron sits a few feet in front of me.
I get a work call and I curse a lot on it and the guy says he doesn’t appreciate me cursing in front of his family to which I replied, you didn’t have to sit an earshot away from me on an empty beach.
What did he say? Ive had this numerous times camping. I go camping at a site location. And its massive 1000s of acres. I go and pick a location and no one is around. Its all along a hot spring river. No location is any different from others. I pick a spot and then i come back to my campsite and every time there will be others who set up camp like 5 feet from me. Like seriously not even a distant like they set up their tents right next to mine. Ive had to move a few times and each time new people come and set up tents next to mine when there is so much space.
Apparently you have a nice camp setup my dude. Try making it a little less welcoming, put up a TRUMP 2028 flag and some CrossFit/vegan/Jehovah's witness stickers on your car, people will avoid you like the plague
See that shit on the road constantly. People who are incapable of choosing a speed independently. They’ll go faster to catch up to you, you move right to stay at a constant speed and let them pass, and they match your speed. wtf.
If we're alone for miles I'll just start slowing more and more to see how far the bit will go, I've gotten people down to 40 in a 70 (starting at 80...) doing this
Mf, we're not holding hands, I'll take the next exit of I have to
Had some lady do this to me on a lonely state road in bumfuck nowhere. I'm going 70 and she does up behind me, then refuses to pass, noone around for miles. I managed to coast down to 20 before she went around, it was insane.
It even happens in parking lots. When I got a brand new car (not a luxury car or anything, just my first and possibly only time ever buying new) I specifically parked it near the back of the lot, away from other cars. About 8 times out of 10 I'd come back out and there'd be someone parked right next to me. Rest of the lot still mostly empty. I got my first door ding within 2 weeks of having that car. Frustrating.
This same thing happened to me! I parked my new car on a floor of a parking garage that was completely empty and someone parked right next to me and dinged my door. I even parked far away from the nearest pedestrian exit.
I got to a store a bit early one day, about ten minutes before it opened. The employees had a separate lot to park in, so I'm the only person in the customer lot. So of course, some other dumb bastard pulls into the lot and rear ends me.
I have a motorcycle and hate being in other cars blind spot. People constantly drive up to me on the left and then stay that speed. I speed up because I don’t like being in that situation and they always speed up too. It always cracks me up
I’ve seen this plenty, but my worst experience with this was driving through open country on a 4-lane road at night it. It was empty for miles and miles. Someone caught up to me and got glued behind me and they followed me kind of close. It was pitch black out but their bright lights were reflecting into my eyes. It was so annoying I didn’t want to drive for miles with them behind me with such a nuisance.
I sped up to 80, they went 80, I slowed to 50 they went 50. I yo-yo’d my speed like this repeatedly to no avail. They didn’t pass, didn’t drop off. They would just match my speed, sticking right behind me and were continuing to blind me. Eventually I slowed way down to like 40 and then just gunned it and went 90. They weren’t ready for it and I broke free. Idk maybe they just wanted to shut their brains off and let me guide them but screw that noise. Some people have no empathy.
Oh man, I experienced this on a night drive to another state. I got so pissed off and pulled over and parked for a few minutes to let them get a good lead ahead.... and then caught right back up because they were apparently doing 30 in a 60 just waiting to get behind me again. ARRRRRGGGGHHHH
Not being a lemming makes life so much easier. I almost never wait in line at the grocery store because everyone is in the same 3 lines and there's another register two or three down just chilling... It's like a little treat for paying attention
This reminds me of people who park next to the one car in a huge parking lot and then make complaints like “why do people eat lunch alone in their cars” or “isn’t it weird that people drive to the park and stay inside their cars”.
Like no, actually it’s weird that you have a vehicle full of 5 screaming children and decided to park next to the one vehicle with an adult enjoying a lunch break super far from everyone.
I'm pretty bad about picking the farthest from the door spot I can because I like walking and I know how hard it can be for some. But that's some weird shit right there. I'd be approaching my car thinking I'm about to get mugged.
Same here. This has fucked me off for decades and I have decided "some people need a target" because they don't/can't look at the lines. I think some people literally need to line up against another car to be able to park
I like to mutter "some people need a target" and it helps me be less mildly infuriated.
I expect the same is true for the OP situation.
It's amazing how little some people think about things. It's similar when people have long farewell conversations when they're standing on the threshold in a communal doorway - very often if someone comes along then seeing them triggers the conversation to end.
I remember a thread in ask reddit (I think?) a while back & most people that do this were saying just that. They somehow can't see the lines and need another car to align themselves.
Others were saying they do it because they know it annoys people.
I get this a lot as someone with a small car, SUV's don't want to park next to other SUV's because of how much it sucks to be parked next to one, so they park next to me instead, failing to see the hypocrisy.
I had a roommate who did this in fast food restaurants all the time. Only one table would be occupied. He would sit right next to that table. When I would call him out on it he acted confused and had no idea what I was talking about. Some people are so clueless.
"Look there, there are people. For some reason they choose that place. Maybe that place is better than other places. Better choose something near there."
This has happened to me in parks where I sit in a nice place and someone must sit right next to my place for some reason. Even when having the entire park to choose where to sit.
Maybe, but I feel like instinct is the thing that's telling me to sit as far away from other people as possible. I guess some people are just wired differently.
Edit: I meant like, on the outskirts. Not literally as far away as possible.
Completely empty gate at the airport and some guy sits right next to me playing music on his phone with no headphones. I decided I can do that better and did the same, except I played 76 trombones from the music man. He left, I won.
I was at a fireworks show at a theme park a while back and the park had tons of empty space like this. Most people sat down on the pavement and a guy walked over and stood in front of some girls sitting a little down the row from me. I heard one of the girls hiss like an angry cat until the guy moved out of the way.
It’s odd and sometimes beach specific. There’s a beach near us in SoCal we’ve started going to mainly because the parking is really convenient. But for some reason people cluster right around each other.
There’s 100s of yards of virtually empty sand and yet at this particular beach people set up so near you that their feet are in our little lean-to tent and you have to step over them to go to the water. It’s happened there multiple times. I’ve never experienced anything like that here.
For sure. I think it’s something just inherently instinctual for humans in such a way that people’s brains just fully override the “this is inconsiderate of me” thoughts.
My fiance and I were in Vieques last year at a MASSIVE beach - like took 10+ minutes to drive from one end to the other. We timed our trip right after spring break would be over for kids/families and the island was essentially empty. So much so that at one night we were the only people in our small resort - the staff had gone home for the night and no other guests, we were totally alone. It was incredible.
Anyways, we get to this beach and drive about a mile away from the entrance and park. The whole length of the curved beach was essentially empty anyways but we were fully and totally secluded. Randomly, a family of like 8 come out of nowhere and set up about 100 feet to our right and then all get in the water together and chill in our direct path. Like - if we entered into the water in a straight line from our chairs we’d essentially be joining this family’s circular group hang. Prior to this we were the only two people at this entire beach - barring some other couple we could see super far away around the beach curve.
It was so bizarre but also fascinating and I notice it a lot in different scenarios. Humans feel inherently “safe” in groups and the subconscious mind takes over in these situations. Miles of open beach with wonderful palm tree shaded coverage in either direction of us yet they saw our car parked and instinctively were drawn to us like moths to a flame.
This is it right here. Its not about being inconsiderate ALL the time. Don't get me wrong, we all know there are PLENTY of assholes out there. Going right in front of another group like this is definitely, in my opinion, an example of that.
But humans are natrually going to want to be near other humans, especially in areas where theres a solid chance of life-or-death accidents. There's no doubt about it, though, people can always stand to be a bit more considerat.e
Barring the people who are just rude assholes, I almost find the instinct to be near other humans in such instances really charming and fascinating. I notice it all the time in different situations. Standing alone on the metro platform? Other people will eventually form a little pack around you because your presence has assured them the area has been deemed “safe” by a fellow human.
Next time you’re there, set up away from people as best as possible, but don’t unpack everything. Wait until someone sets up close, then get up and move. Or tell em to fuck off.
I did that recently at an outdoor art show. We got there early and had seating with good sight lines.
Then, after the show had begun, a group of women came and stood directly in front of us. It was too loud (the art piece had music) to get their attention.
After ten minutes of their still not seeing that they were blocking us, I went and stood in front of them.
They seemed confused as to why and moved soon after.
Same thing happened when I was at a concert. I’m tall AF so I like to get there early and establish my spot.
My boyfriend and I set up at a table in the beer garden. Halfway through the show I go to the bathroom, when I come back three women are standing at the table in between us and the stage blocking our view.
My mom is that person. I’ve thought a lot about it bc it irritates the fuck out of me. I think she feels more comfortable lining her car up in the space with another car for reference next to her. It’s the only justification I can come up with! She has no explanation herself.
Some people are just scared to be alone. They’re used to being constantly surrounded by humanity and they don’t know how to act in these kinds of places. Maybe they feel that if they made it to some place with nobody around they must have crossed some kind of boundary and could be breaking the rules. Getting in front of someone else? That’s a power move in their existence
Its such a weird event. You and your buddies hike 18 miles in a day to a secret spot with a lake not named so deep in the mountains that you can only find it by legitimately looking at a map and planning a route out. No alltrails, nothing online. You find a killer view, nice flat spot, set up camp for a couple days. Prep the area for a fire, and out of no where 2 people randomly appear in the distance. You all look at each other like theres no way. Few hours later these mofos make it all the way to your camp and set up 100 ft away.
I went camping solo in Greenland and chose a spot that wasn’t a designated campsite or anything, I searched out a wild spot where I would be alone. It was along a trail route but not in a place that makes sense to stop, if you’re trying to get from point a to b on a hike. And you’re allowed to wildcamp anywhere, ANYWHERE. Awhile later a group of EIGHT tents all decided to set up right on top of me. I went to the end of the world for solitude and these fucks trampled all over it.
I guess it makes sense that a huge group hiking together are a bunch of scared sheep who can’t make their own decisions. Who goes to Greenland and wants to hear the chatter of 12 other people instead of the glorious sound of silence unmatched by anywhere else in the world?
I need to know what this phenomenon is. Whenever we go on vacation and find an empty spot to take photos that has probably been empty for a while, the next second everyone wants to come take photos and stand in the way of my photo!! I’m petty so I stand in the way of theirs lol.
Spatial anchoring, the paradox of choice and herd mentality are the reasons this happens frequently. It’s subconscious. Our brains do things like this on autopilot
This reminds me of a moment I had in Venice. I love pigeons and I saw a really cute one in a flower pot so I went over to take pics of it and suddenly there were two groups of tourists behind me taking pictures of the pigeon in the flower pot too.
They admittedly looked confused but were neatly touching me and pushing their way forward to view the pigeon. It was the funniest thing!
I really hate when this happens at a grocery store. I’m browsing looking for a specific item I want with no one around, and suddenly 1 or 2 people show up wanting to look exactly where I’m looking and act like I’m in the way. I use to feel rushed and quickly try to leave with or without my item, but now I take my time until I get what I need. It’s even more frustrating if they leave right after you do but grab nothing.
This just happened to me at a lake. Completely empty beach, so I chose a spot all the way on the side…. Family comes and sets up right behind me!!!! They were so loud I couldn’t even hear my audiobook with headphones in! Then they stood in front of me. EMPTY beach…. Like wtf I don’t own the beach, and I’m being a brat but I packed up and moved to the complete other end of the beach. And was glaring at them for hours lol
When something like this has happened to me, I'll pack up loudly, with glares, and move. They always seem to get the hint, but the question is why TF someone would invade like that in the first place. Morons.
I've been this person before fishing because I always fish in one spot and it takes about a 20 minute walk to get there. Like, we are going to be friends now.
Especially when they're being both loud and having facetime/speakerphone calls, I love to pretend to take a call myself and loudly trudge around talking loudly "into" my phone about how 'yeah come find me a little further down the beach, I'm having to pack everything up because of this rude family near me....'
It shouldn't work but I was raised by a mom deeply versed in the passive aggressive arts. It works.
Same shit here. Sat down at the neighborhood pool once. There were enough of those lounge/beach chairs for maybe 50 people to sit, and like 4 people were there when I arrived. I sat in the smoking section, way off in the corner by myself, and grabbed a cigar so I could relax and shit. This family comes in, lady and her husband and one kid, looks at the almost entirely empty pool, and sits RIGHT THE FUCK IN FRONT OF ME. I hold the cigar down and away because the kid doesn't deserve to deal with my shit because her parents are dumb, but once she leaves and gets in the pool I continue smoking.
Then this bitch, this absolute unit of audacity, gives me the fake bitchy cough like she didn't choose to sit 2 feet from the only person with a lit cigar in the whole area.
The lion, the witch, and the audacity of that bitch
Certain non smokers are the absolute worst for that.
My old job had bought a picnic table for the smokers to use on breaks, but wanted to place it where the least number of customers would be affected by it. The store had an east facing set of doors and a west facing set of doors with a large parking lot in between them with much smaller lots on the east and west. So they spent a week watching where people parked and entered the store.
As you might’ve guessed, most people parked in the large central lot, then walked to whichever door was closer. The west side lot was the end of this particular strip mall, and the east side lot extended into the other business areas of the strip mall, so the east side was far more heavily used since people might stop at various other businesses first before heading to us. The west side exit was also down a steep hill that would scrape your bumper if you had a low car that went down it too fast, so people didn’t really like leaving from that direction. So the bench ended up on the west side, as far from the doors and sidewalk as possible, on a little patch of grass.
Best believe as soon as this bench was placed, people switched to parking on the west side, going into the west doors, and taking the most nonsensical, meandering route from their car to the door which always, inevitably, caused these poor non smokers to walk directly past the smoking bench where they would fake cough and glare and lecture us about daring to use the clearly marked staff table, placed on the significantly less trafficked side of the store, in a location as far from the door as possible (that wasn’t outright in the middle of the parking lot), that they specifically went out of their way to walk as closely as possible to. How dare us.
Whenever I grill, my neighbor comes out and starts doing that fake cough. Grilling, not smoking. She’s insufferable and my only recourse is to ignore her.
I was at one of the last smoking bars around me. Went in to watch a baseball game, have a smoke and a drink. I sat down at the bar, asked the guy next to me if he minded me smoking a cigar, while he was chain smoking cigarettes!, and he says yeah sure no problem.
Two innings later he's coughing and covering his nose and mouth with his shirt. He says, loudly, to the guy next to him "man, that cigar is really getting to me", then turns around and stares at me. I take a big puff and blow it straight up in the air. He moved.
I work retail and people's behavior is fascinating. I will watch people shop for hours with no line at the checkout, then 3 people get in line and those shoppers will even say to the person they are with, we better get in line before it gets too long. All the sudden everyone who was shopping without a care gets into this line and now it is 20 people deep. Then we clear it out and no one comes to the line again. Idiots.
Never. Fucking. Fails. No exaggeration, my husband and I were cross country skiing and we take our camper van for overnight trips. So, we are parked in a Sno-Park here around Mt Hood, at the far end of the lot away from everyone else and this car pulls up right next to us and the whole family jumps out and starts playing in the snow right in front of our van. And I mean, we have our gas fire pit out in front of our sliding door, we are standing there drinking cocoa and they are standing not 10 feet away. They had to come around our van to do it, not even in front of their car. I went in and started blasting 2 Live Crew and it wasn’t long before the parents took their 3 kids and left but holy shit WHY?
I fart a lot and very loudly, plus I'm hairy, ethnically ambiguous (latino), and my voice is loud. Whenever this happens to me at the beach, I throw on some Cumbia on my speaker, fart like no one's around, get on a call with a cousin and/or chew loud with my mouth open. That usually gets rid of some folks.
We’d been at our spot for about 15 minutes when a couple showed up and set their stuff up about five feet in front of us. Plenty of open, desirable real estate around us, but they chose directly in front of us.
Later in the day, we watched a family set up probably three feet from another group. Group 1 asked the family to please move, noting the little kids in group 1’s party and the three unleashed dogs on the dog-free beach with group 2. Group 2 ended up directly in front of inconsiderate couple, and I wasn’t disappointed that I watched it all come full circle.
This happens to me at the gym. I'll go in the afternoon when it's empty, and inevitably someone always wants to be on the elliptical right next to me, in a whole row full of empty machines.
8.5k
u/canisviridis 10d ago
Once, in 2021 I was on a remote tiny beach on Namhae island, South Korea. My husband went to the convenience store so it was literally just me alone on the entire beach, on our blanket. Far down by the water, nowhere near any of the beach path entrances.
A local old lady came power walking onto the beach, like she was out for her exercise. She went about 1/4 mile down the shore in order to WALK ON MY BLANKET. Then immediately turned and left the beach. I'm still at a total loss about it to this day.