People are Lazy

People are really lazy. I see it every day, from the line of 200 people waiting to take the escalator in Penn Station when the double wide set of stairs is practically empty right next to it, to people waiting for a parking space when there are hundreds of them available like 40 feet away.  But as the saying goes, until you walk in another person’s shoes, you never know what their experience is so perhaps every one of those people has a reason for not wanting to engage in the strenuous activity of walking, be it up the stairs or across the asphalt.  

But there is one place where the laziest of the laziest continue to under-exert themselves with no excuses whatsoever – and that is in the time-honored tradition of the replacement (or not, if you will) of an empty roll of toilet paper.  A task so easy to accomplish and yet, for some reason, so frequently left for the next person.  And in such a variety of ways.  Let’s take a look at the bounty of options (with a special shout out to a friend, who knows who she is, who supplied some of these pictures knowing what a peeve it is of mine).  I guess I could say they are in order of level of laziness.

Here we have your basic level of lazy.  Let me point out that this is in my home (my home!) and there is just as much of a chance that it is one of the mini-mes as it is big guy (that's not to say I don't think gender plays a role in this).  I can also tell you that there are definitely extra rolls of toilet paper in that cabinet, on the left side conveniently accessible right behind the toilet paper holder.  No, I'm not the only person in the house that knows where it is stored - as evidenced by...

This pretty picture where someone clearly needed some more, and clearly knew where to find it, yet still could not manage to complete the complicated process known as changing the toilet paper roll.

Lest you think I am reserving my snark for my family, let's travel over to my workplace for Exhibit 3 - where we can see an example of needed more, couldn't be bothered to finish the job and, judging by the small size of the roll, followed by a bunch of people who thought "well, if no one else did it, I'm certainly not going to."  Because that kind of thinking always solves the world's problems.

Oh look - it's the "I left some for the next person so I don't have to change it" roll.  This is the same person who leaves half of a cookie or a bite of pie and thinks it qualifies as leaving you some of the dessert.  Maybe if you were from Whoville it might.

Toilet paper you are not alone!  All sorts of paper products on rolls seem to instill in people a complete and total inability to do something that is not remotely difficult.  If the aliens are watching us, this behavior is definitely on their "hmmm, interesting" list

Back to my home for the "it can't get any easier than this
and yet you still can't manage to do it" award.  

And then of course, in this as in all things, we have the one that stands above all the rest. Join me for a moment in contemplating what exactly happened here:

Maybe those aliens showed up to take a specimen to find out why an advanced society has so many people who can't replace a roll of paper.  I hope they share the results.

The Walking Texters

So there I am on the stairs heading down into Penn Station to catch my train, and the woman in front of me is going really, really slow.   The staircase is just a little too narrow for me to pass her comfortably (which really irks me because there is *no one* in front of her).   I tell myself not everyone likes to walk at warp speed, and even load on a little compassion and think she may even have some health issue because she is hunched over a bit ("well then take the frickin' escalator"- quiet snarky self, we are in compassionate mode).  So I put on the brakes and pile on the patience and step by slow step follow her down without further judgment.  Until we get to the bottom of the stairs and I can finally wind around her and see that she is on her phone, staring intently down at it hence the hunch and, more annoyingly, the slowness.  On the stairs, heading into Penn Station, at rush hour no less.

The Walking Texters.  They are everywhere and like the zombies in The Walking Dead (of which I am a huge fan) they are incredibly slow and just veer everywhere regardless of what may be around them.  Actually every now and then the zombies walk a little faster and straighter if there is a meal in their sights.

There you are walking along the sidewalk and some tool in front of you is crawling along at a snail's pace swerving all over the place like they just downed a few shots with a marijuana chaser (not that I would know what that's like). If it's not too crowded you can try to pass them, but you never know if they might turn right in front of you at the last second.  Of course (of course!) I understand that texting while driving is infinitely more dangerous than texting while walking - but the concept is the same.  You can't focus on both at once and if you choose the texting sooner or later you're going to hit something.  And it is usually someone else.

Walking Texter Trail

Drunk Snail Trail

Also just like the zombies, it is even worse when it is a crowded tight space, like a staircase or a construction walkway.  There is simply no getting around the walking texters in these places and you have to deal with them.  Unlike the zombies, I cannot just stick a knife in their head and be done with it so once again I'm at their mercy and their speed.  I'm also getting a little dizzy just looking at them.  And my neck hurts in sympathy pain.

The elevator – save me from texters on elevators.  If I’m getting on to go up, here’s hoping they don’t step on ahead of me – they’ll push their floor (barely rolling their eyes up to make the selection) and plant themselves firmly in front of the panel – because, you know, no one else on the elevator needs to select a floor.  We’re just along for a joy ride.  Getting off the elevator?  If they’re waiting on the floor they’ll barrel on in at the sound of the door opening with barely a glance to see if anyone is coming out. 

And, please know, I'm not entirely selfish.  My concerns extend to the walking texters themselves because they are one distracted moment away from being a headline.  In addition to carelessly, aimlessly impeding my movements, they’re constantly wandering into traffic – real, not pedestrian.  One of these days a driver is going to decide they’ve hit the brakes one too many times for these bozos who can’t be bothered to pay attention when there are cars around (I’ve mentioned this one before in my general disdain of bad walking behaviors http://mysnarkyself.blogspot.com/2014/01/walking-can-be-hazardous-to-your-health.html).   I have not yet decided how I will feel if a texting driver hits a texting walker - although I will say I am all for road sections just for them.  Both of them - the drivers and the walkers.  Let them take their chances with each other. 

The Walking Texters - slowly swerving on a sidewalk near you.