People are getting ruder

[goofyernmost]

My pet peeve is the many people who when approaching doors, go to the one on the left. I was brought up to always walk to the right (we drive on the right don't we?) It seems to me a simple thing that makes life easier. I wish every body did it.

Yea, what's up with that! It seems as natural as breathing to me to walk on the right hand side of a sidewalk, moving sidewalk or escalator. To me to be on the left side is totally unnatural. I guess if you are from UK or Japan or Australia then the left is natural for you. That said, most of the people that walk, apposing traffic are not from any of those places. Just cannot understand it unless it is a means of being noticed. Who knows!

 

[BamaFan121s]

Why would a child need to sit as opposed to an adult? For the life of me I do not know. All their parts are new, they normally never have the aches and pains of an older person and have energy coming out of their ears when they want too. Sitting on a bus with no seatbelt offers no more protection from injury than standing, in fact less. Now they have the back of another seat to smash into instead of a soft body. I see no need to be uncomfortable so their young butts can have a ride. So call me old and grumpy if you want. If one would plan ahead they might have been on the bus earlier or waited for the next one. There lack of planning does not constitute my emergency. (love that phrase)

I should probably apologize in advance to all the people I just offended but it wouldn't be sincere, so probably not.
[/B]

No offense taken whatsover. Just to offer another view, though, I think it's more of a safety issue than that children are more tired than adults. If you have a child in the 5 yo range, it isn't exactly easy for them to hold on while standing. Plus, they are children and will act like children. Natually an adult is going to have more control over their own body than a child and are more easily able to balance and compensate for going around curve, over bumps, etc. And it is hard for a parent to hold on for themselves with one hand and help their child with another. I have found I can manage if I can get near the area in the front...I can put her against the 'big gray box' and corral myself around her. **I'm getting a mental picture of a bus slamming on breaks, a kid losing their balance and because of their height, being thrown face first into a seat...or a butt. **
I've was on board a Disney bus that had a wreck once. Granted, it was minor, but the sudden impact threw EVERYONE and EVERYTHING to the floor. Luckily we were sitting and were OK. I would hate to thing what would have happened had my 6'5" 240 lb husband fallen on a child.

That is why I am picky about when my child stands on a bus--not against it, but cautious. That is just my opinion and a choice every parent has to make for themselves. I'm not trying to convince you to give up your seat for a child, nor am I suggesting that other parents should expect to get one for theirs. If judging by the look of the bus I don't think it will be safe for DD--or the rest of us--we will stand to the side and catch the next bus.

 

[Amphigorey]

I don't think it is as prevalent now as it was in the early 70's when I actually got yelled at for holding a door. This, granted, was at the very beginning of the womans movement but it did have a lasting effect on my mind.

Exactly - it was the beginning (or rather, the resurgence, since the true beginnings were in the 1800s when women were fighting for suffrage, and they had to fight for a LONG time), and that meant more consciousness-raising, which meant being very vocal about such things. Now there's less of a need for it, although we certainly haven't achieved true equality. There is much work still to be done.

I eventually overcame the fear of holding a door for someone but I am much more callous about women standing on a bus etc. The way I see it there is no reason, unless they are elderly or pregnant or holding seventy eleven children, that they need to sit anymore than I do. My legs and feet sometimes hurt so bad that I can hardly stand. I would suspect that because others can't feel the pain they think of me as being lower than whale do-do for not getting up. There are certain things that I can be OK with and that is one of them.

Exactly! That is what I was saying with my earlier post. I see absolutely no reason why you should offer your seat to me, since I am neither elderly nor disabled.

Regarding escalators - stand right/walk left is no less safe, as long as the escalator is wide enough, and the ones used for public transit, like the London Underground and San Francisco's BART, certainly are. Also, with the Underground in particular, some of those escalators are UNBELIEVABLY long (several stories), so yes, you actually do save a significant amount of time if you walk them rather than stand and ride!