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Ask Gothamist is constantly writing about the little annoyances that go hand with life in the big city. That's why we were pleased when a book called Life's Little Annoyances came across our desk. The book, by New York Times writer Ian Urbina, chronicles some of the more outrageous things people do to respond to the things that drive them nuts every day.
While the book makes a great holiday gift idea for your annoyed and often-irritated friends - people who probably aren't that hard to find in a city plagued by subway pole hugging and slow-walking tourists - it also might be a good idea to point those friends to the book's official website where you can find some great "true tales of people who just can't take it anymore.
Our favorite discovery upon reading some of the stories at the site has to this website where a mad-as-hell-and-not-going-to-take-it-anymore LIRR commuter documents heinous violators of train etiquette by snapping pictures of them with his cameraphone. Could the digital revolution, the source of many of life's little annoyances, also be the salvation of the easily irritated?
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>>>often-irritated friends - people who probably aren't that hard to find in a city plagued by subway pole hugging and slow-walking tourists
Actually, I get irritated by people who GET irritated at tourists AND slow-walkers.
Until they pass a law that says everyone in NYC has to rush (presumably to the next business meeting or someplace else they can make more money), I'm going to keep walking slowly, lest I miss something I wouldn't have seen if I was rushing blindly about.
www.forgotten-ny.com
I get irritated by people who do not respect the bike lane on the Brooklyn Bridge, especially on the parts where you can pick up some speed while coasting. However, most of them are tourists who want to take a picture of the broken skyline of lower Manhattan, often times with their tourist companion(s) in the shot. They are totally oblivious to the signage that the DOT put up.
What really pisses me off is the subway door holders. The worst offender was this woman on the E train at 34th Street-Penn Station. She was holding the doors while her friend waited on line at the token booth to get her MetroCard! Part of me wanted to give her a shove off the train while saying "Stand clear of the closing doors." Another part of me was wondering if the TA could retrofit something to shock door holders.
And then there are the idiot automobilists who do not respect the bike lane or yell at you to bike on the sidewalk. They are really ignorant - ignorant of the motor vehicle code. Conversely, there are the people over 14 years old who ride their bike on the sidewalk. The law should be ammended that you can whack them upside the head as punnishment. It would work well since they tend to also be stupid enough to ride the bike without a helmet and/or with earphones on, which sort of relates to the next thing.
Then there are the people who do not understand that headphones are to be used on the subway/bus/train/ferry/etc. so that others cannot hear your music. Thankfully they are just creating early hearing loss for themselves.
Toby: what do you think about the recently built bike lane on 12th Avenue? They built it way too narrow. The only time I biked there, I got yelled at by the bike racers because I stopped for a second to check out the view. There's no room!
The lane should definitely be wider so that if you want to gawk, you can gawk; if you want to race, you can race. The Brooklyn Bridge ped path is way too narrow, and a painted line isn't really enough to keep the tourists and bikers away from each other. Not much you can do abt that path, though.
Cars are a constant threat to the cyclist and as long as the DOT believes the roads are for cars first with cyclists and runners a distant second...till you change that mindset...extreme caution is forever necessary on NYC streets.
As far as headphones, even people who DO use the headphones blast away and you have to deal with this tinny noise all the way home.
www.forgotten-ny.com
Kevin: I haven't biked the new lane on 12th Avenue yet, so I can't say anything about it. However, the racers do need to realize that not everyone is going at Tour de France pace and they do not own the road. I do like to stop when biking, especially if I notice something odd, like 1960s vintage street signs or other stuff no tourist would have any idea the significance of like IRT manhole covers. . .
The Brooklyn Bridge bike path is too narrow, but I don't think there is any real solution that would make it wider. But dodging tourists is a bit of a sport and they can tell their buddies when they get home they were yelled at by a crazy New Yorker on a bike. My guess is tourists don't know enough to read signs.
I have never been in bike vs. car accident in NYC. [Knock wood!] I was in a city that shall remain nameless and in the span of a half hour I was whacked upside the head (thank dog for helmets!) by a juvenile delinquent on a bike path in a park, when I went to report it to a cop he was more intrested in his coffee than crime, and to top it off about 20 minutes later I get clipped by a car. I wasn't really hurt, but the idiot automobilist got a nice big and long scratch on the side of their car thanks to my pedal.
Toronto is a bit better for urban biking, and you gotta love their bike racks. One down side is the bloody street car tracks, but they thankfully maintain them unlike certain cities with lazy cops, juvenile delinquents and bad drivers.
I find somethng like Wagner operas or pipe organ music good to stick on the ipod when I am stuck with a person who doesn't know what earphones are for. They must have a deafwish.
The funny thing is, I really don't hide the camera -- I just take a snap (with the camera shutter sound off).
BTW, the better link is the this:
http://bigpicture.typepad.com/writing/lirr_commuter_from_hell/index.html
(Its the full series)