Sidestep Question ("Madigan")

[Joe]

This has nothing to do with veg*nism. It's more of an etiquette question, I suppose.

An example of this is shown in the police procedural movie Madigan (ca 1970). Richard Widmark plays police detective Madigan, who has just screwed up big time by letting a criminal get the drop on him and take his service pistol. The irate and embarrassed police commissioner is played by Henry Fonda.


Widmark's wife pesters him to take her to the policeman's ball. Widmark does not want to do this, because he does not want to run into Fonda. He takes her but tries to sneak out early by himself. Of course, he runs smack into Fonda in the hallway as he tries to exit and an uncomfortable dialog ensues.

Fonda and Widmark are both in the center of the hallway, trying to walk in opposite directions but blocking one another. So Widmark tries to move to his right to avoid blocking Fonda, but Fonda tries to avoid blocking Widmark by moving to his (Fonda's) left, thus again blocking him. They spend about a minute making the exactly wrong moves and keep blocking one another(unintentionally).

Now my question or questions are these: Does this sort of blocking problem happen to you? (It does to me.) If so, how do you resolve the problem? I knew a student in grad school, raised in the South, who said he was taught as a rule of etiquette that each person should move to his or her right. He seemed to think that everyone should have been taught this rule as a child.

I never was taught this. Nor have I ever seen the problem or any rule about it in anything I have ever read.

How about you all? Were any of you taught about what to do in this situation as a child or in school?

 

[KLS52]

No. I do remember liking that movie.

This does make me think of my boss, though. He's 6 ft 7 in and approximately 250 lbs. When he comes barreling down the hall you had better get out of his way because he refuses to stop and you will be run down if you don't move. Jerk.

Occasionally I will try to figure out why he does this. Sure, he's rude, arrogant, condescending and generally not a nice person. But if I'm feeling particularly generous I have wondered if it has to do with his size. He's late, every single morning, and comes in moving very quickly with briefcase in hand. Maybe it's, physically, hard for him to stop because of his size. Kind of like trying to stop a freight train.

Sorry to go off on a tangent, lol. It's nearly 3 am and I'm wide awake...funny how the OP triggered this rant!

 

[Blobbenstein]

the best way to deal with that is wait until one of you dies of starvation, then the survivor can step over the body, if they have enough energy left.

 

[Calliegirl]

Nope, never taught anything regarding this. It can be kind of frustrating, but it usually ends up with both of us laughing or making a funny comment, so it kind of brightens the day. I guess I've been lucky I haven't run into anyone who was ****** off and rude about it.

 

[Second Summer]

Yes, this happens regularly at work, for example. I've never been taught any rules about how to resolve it, but then where I come from it wasn't ever so densely populated that they really needed a rule, I guess.

Usually, I think the way we resolve it, is by eye contact and watching closely what the other person is doing or about to do. It sounds like in that movie that they were trying to avoid eye contact, and I think that really could complicate the situation.

 

[Blobbenstein]

I think if there is a rule it should be you go to whichever side that you drive on the road, in that country...road rule..

 

[Second Summer]

I think if there is a rule it should be you go to whichever side that you drive on the road, in that country...road rule..

You should go to the side that you walk on the road, that would make a lot more sense, I think!

 

[Blobbenstein]

You should go to the side that you walk on the road, that would make a lot more sense, I think!

but that is only country roads with no pavement...I think going to the left in the UK(for eg) is more intuitive.

 

[ledboots]

You should go to the side that you walk on the road, that would make a lot more sense, I think!

Don't you walk on the same side of the road as the car traffic?

 

[Second Summer]

Don't you walk on the same side of the road as the car traffic?

Not in Norway, at least. We walk on the left, but drive on the right. I assume the thinking behind the rules is that this way you can see the cars coming towards you, and you can jump into the ditch if required due to wide loads on cars coming towards you.

 

[Blobbenstein]

yes, in the UK you're supposed to walk on the right, where there is no pavement.

We drive on the left.

You're supposed to walk into the traffic.

In case someone tries to run you over.

 

[Pirate]

I just don't move and that way the other person is always right.

 

[Andy_T]

yes, in the UK you're supposed to walk on the right, where there is no pavement.

But that is just a special precaution/exception for pedestrians using streets where automobiles drive in case of missing sidewalks!

You go on the opposite side to the one that you would use when driving in a car, so that you can see the cars coming on your side and not get run over by cars approaching from the back that you do not see in time (typically, the pedestrian would see the approaching car before the driver sees the pedestrian, so the pedestrian is better suited - and motivated - to get out of the way). In Germany or the US, of course, you would be walking on the left side of the road, if there is no sidewalk.

It seems quite simple and straightforward to me. When two cars meet on a narrow road, they certainly would not swerve into the oncoming traffic to pass each other. Rather, they would go further to the side on which they are normally driving. So, in the US, that would mean to drive (or walk) more to the right than usual.

My challenge, however, is that after living in non-English countries for the first 45 years of my life, where everybody is used to drive or walk on the right side of the road, I am now living in Malaysia, a country with a British tradition and - consequently - traffic that is on the other side.

When I meet somebody in a hallway, I have to pay attention to move to the left instead of to the right like I used to do for most of my life, because this is what people are used to doing here. In the car or walking.

* Note: When riding a motorbike, of course, exceptions apply in Malaysia.
Then, you would move to the right, to the left, above, below, to a fourth dimension, if possible, or wherever else there might be space available. Preferrably without checking for traffic, trusting in Allah instead .