RSS FeedWhere The Sidewalk Etiquette Ends
We don’t want to go all Emily Post on you, but there are certain things you should be doing because they are the right thing to do. When you see a parent with a stroller trying to enter a building, you hold the door open for them. On crowded city sidewalks during the rain, you use a small umbrella for one and not a golf-course umbrella for three. And now that warm weather is here this last one is a lot more noticeable: When you’re walking on the sidewalk if a woman in heels (or dragging a dog) needs to avoid the sidewalk grates, even if that means moving into your lane, you move out of the way.
We’re all trained from a young age that the right hand lane is our lane. Be it in a car on the streets,walking on the sidewalks, or riding on a metro escalator. And we get just as annoyed as the next guy when someone walking towards us deliberately chooses the wrong side of the sidewalk in some kind of bizarre tough guy/gal challenge (we see this the most on morning runs… some people will only run on the left).
Heels and sidewalk grates do not mix–when you see a woman in heels shift lanes as she approaches a grate you should not take this as a direct challenge. While we haven’t personally experienced it we’re guessing heels are uncomfortable enough without having to press all of your weight to your toes to avoid your heel being caught in a trap. We’ve seen enough credit card charges for Mrs Columbo’s shoes to know a lady isn’t going to test her strength against what the grate might do to her new Jimmy Choo peep-toe pumps. When the heels make the move to stay off the grates, you should make the move onto them.
Of course if she’s wearing wedges, all bets are off. In such cases you should feel free to shoulder-check away.
If you enjoyed this post, please consider leaving a comment or subscribing to the feed and get future articles delivered to your feed reader.
Comments
yes, 4 across is annoying. Especially when the whole family is looking down at their device from the Spy tour…
likewise, if you are in the lead and on a date with a woman wearing heels, pick the pathway forward with no grates or undesirable sidewalk cracks/buckles/etc. she will be a much happier camper for it (and you too). if your man is wearing heels, well, I guess the same advice pretty much applies.
Can people in DC also stop waving their arms about as they walk? Especially if they have burning cigarettes in their hand? But generally, you don’t need to swing your arms like you’re trying to hit someone to walk. *Just* *Walk* *Normally*. Not hard, just stop being self-centered SOBs for a change.
It drives me crazy when people feel that they have to use the intersection ramp to cross the street. I have a child in a stroller and often people will block the sidewalk or walk in front of me when they could easily step up on to the curb. I know that using a stroller is a temporary phase, but I think of how frustrated others using wheelchairs or carts must feel.
I also agree with the crowds hogging the sidewalk. It’s the worst when you start to pass and they expand across to take up even more room on the sidewalk.
Thanks for a chance to vent.
Thanks for this posting; my dog instinctively avoids metal, whether grates or utility covers. It is especially difficult on F Street by the entrance to the Marriott Courtyard hotel at the SW corner of F and 9th. The hotel has planters between the supports of their marquee forming a nice allee to the hotel’s front door from the curb. Unfortunately, it also blocks pedestrians walking along F Street from using most of the sidewalk. Pedestrians have to skirt around the marquee where perhaps two people can fit abreast. Worse yet, there is a grate only a step to the west so if one wants to avoid it they must squeeze between the grate and the marquee support — or cross at 10th to the north sidewalk! Getting through there with guests waiting for cars or taxis oblivious to all around, with people coming at you, which also frightens my dog, and without you or the dog touching the grate is a challenge.
For a while the city did not allow grates on the sidewalks — they should return to that policy both because it is visually more pleasing and because it provides for a more friendly pedestrian environment.
Hotels should also not be allowed to block passage of public sidewalks with planters, curtains, and the like.
YES THIS! and if it happens to be me..in heels AND (in our case ) being dragged by a teensy pup whose paws really are tooo little to walk on the grate… and if we happen to be outside the burger king… & there is only that wee strip of pavement with a plunge down into the well of the BK stairwell … well then we reallllly appreciate your understanding! thanks
xoxo
ps pet walkers beware.. metal grates can shock pets!
Etiquette? That’s a nice word but nobody practices it. Try walking down a sidewalk without having to avoid a self-important jerk who can’t take their eyes off their iPhone,Blackberry,Android,Whatever. Even more infuriating is when they’re crossing six lanes of traffic without ever looking up.
Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.
I’d like to take this time to point out another bit of sidewalk etiquette. People should not walk 4 across (or more) on a crowded sidewalk. I get so pissed when myself or others are forced into walls or busy streets because Tom, Dick, Harry and Joe want to feel included in their little group.