Quantcast

What Annoys New Yorkers The Most?

There are a lot of things that annoy New Yorkers, though maybe nothing more than seeing such a complex group of people being reduced to a pie chart. Nevertheless, the Post compiled this chart of things that piss off New Yorkers. So, are they right?

People who block subway doors won as the number one pet peeve for New Yorkers, and ranked the highest in every borough except for Brooklyn. Rashaun Simon, 23, said, "It's a hospitality issue. They're the same people who don't give up their seats to pregnant women." Of the people polled, almost 25% said they were the worst. Adam Duritz, you have been warned!

Coming in a close second is tourists who walk too slow, which would be a lot easier to deal with if they just stayed in their own lane. But surprisingly, cab drivers on cell phones had more votes than street fairs, annoying film crews and terrorizing tip jars combined. Clearly the Post didn't interview Breffny Flynn. And hipsters only wound up in the top four annoyances for Brooklyn, because let's face it, that's where most of them are. One Greenpointer complained, "Property prices go up because of them. They wear those tight pants, flannel shirts, suit jackets, man purses, and there is no need for a scarf in June."

However, one New Yorker took the annoyances in stride. Aramis Reynoso said, "I’ve lived here all my life. The things that annoy you about New York are usually the things that define New York." So keep on complaining!

Contact the author of this article or email tips@gothamist.com with further questions, comments or tips.

Comments [rss]

  • =v= In real live research, the kind where people are surveyed and provide their own answers, horn-honking and car alarms top the list. This is just a dumb unscientific poll cooked up by "journalists" at the Post, strictly for entertainment purposes.

  • nous

    I'll be honest, I don't have it in me to hate on hipsters. They've made it fashionably acceptable to wear a cheap cotton V-neck, drink cheap PBR and not shave - essentially, the least required effort possible. As a man, I appreciate the simplicity.

  • S.K.

    Why aren't Justin Beaver and Jersey Shore added to the list of annoyances?

  • Reflect

    Fast food/ starbuck joints who rush you to make up your mind about your order when there is no one behind you.

    Im like chill, theres enough time obviously u work here.

  • mikebb

    Hi, allow me to introduce myself - I am a person that stands in the subway door spot.

    I have ridden the subway daily since I was 12 and see nothing wrong with it. I always have my daily subway route pretty memorized so I stand where the door opens least often. On some routes I´ll know when to switch door sides to avoid being at the open one.

    If I can´t switch from one door spot to another due to it being occupied, I´ll turn 90 degrees when the door opens. There is a small crease there so I´m barely obstructing anyone entering (I´ḿ not fat).

    Obviously, during rush hour I just move to the middle with everyone else because personal preference is thrown out the window in such situations.

    I sometimes have conflicts with other passengers when they want to get to the door while the train is moving, as if they are in a race and desperately need to be the first one out the gate.

    I almost get annoyed at them, but I remember that when I was like that it was because I worked at a job I hated terribly and just wanted to get everywhere immediately. I quit the terrible job and then learned to stop rushing around like such an asshole.

    Itś a gentle conflict, because they would like me to move my hand that is keeping my balance or somehow get out of their way while the train is moving and I would prefer to wait until the train has stopped.

    Sometimes, while standing in the door spot, a gathering of people approaching as if it is a race line and a gun is about to go off appear before me. A lot of them look tensely at me, concerned I will not get out of their way as quickly as they like. When the train stops I turn to my side and everyone is able to get by me easily, or I step out and off to the side one step so the same is accomplished. But I really enjoy staring at the horribly tense, miserable faces queued up in the moments right before.

    In conclusion, I´d like to add that based on your above comments, most of you seem like obnoxious, snarky assholes. So knowing that you seeing me standing at the door makes you feel poorly gives me a little bit of happiness. I mean, you all seem pretty unhappy anyway, but I´m happy I can add to it just a little bit.

  • Mark

    There's a recent and very annoying trend in Carroll Gardens, and now in Park Slope, of people walking out into the street and paying no attention at all to oncoming traffic. This has kind of always been the case with snotty school kids, but now it seems like everyone's in on it. Even people pushing baby carriages. One guy put his hand up at me once all indigent. I had the green light. I have this secret fantasy of getting out of my car, making a citizen's arrest and calling child services on these people. Man, that would make my day.

  • Potty Boy

    Dude, that annoying pedestrian indifference/arrogance is not confined to those parts of Brooklyn, but is citywide. I drive all the time, all over the city, and it's widespread. But it's in keeping with the general decline in civility in our society. Ha ha, wow, your fantasy is tame...I simply content myself with the belief (hope) that one day, people like that will get their comeuppance...only that I won't have the satisfaction of being present when some less sane person, unable to contain their rage, sends them flying 100 feet from where they last walked.

  • rdayk

    Biggest annoyance has got to be people who insist on walking on the left side of crowded staircases and sidewalks instead of keeping to the right. I also hate the people who walk really slowly up the middle of a narrow staircase, so that everyone behind them is blocked in and has to walk at their agonizingly slow pace. Is it so hard to move to the right and let other people pass? I also hate the cutesy nick-names that some people use for various neighborhoods. Billyburg, ugh. It's not even shorter than Williamsburg, it's the same number of syllables, but it sounds like revolting baby-talk. I would be happy if I never heard cutesy nick-names like DUMBO, FiDi or MePa again.

  • AM25

    + 1. "Billyburg" and all the other cutenesses drive me crazy, and they reek of "I'm-not-from-here-but-the-other-Huns-and-I-have-renamed-and-claimed-your-hood"-ness. Someone referred to the area south of Joralemon Street (which changes from Brooklyn Heights to Cobble Hill in just 2 blocks) as "SoJo," and in my elevator at work, someone was telling a coworker that he lives in SoBro. When he was asked where that is, he said, "I think they used to call it the South Bronx." And say what you want -- those of us who have been around here forever or nearly that long, are not that thrilled that, for example, Lee Avenue has lost so many great bakeries/shops/delis to random Mommy-and-Me-from-elsewhere or Yoga places. Greenpoint was a place I loved for traditional Polish foods/atmosphere and some good Italian restaurants. I'm from Brooklyn Heights (lifelong), and I have a deep respect for ethnic neighborhoods and wish they could remain what they are. The idea that outsiders (yeah, I do use that term) have swooped through so many unique neighborhoods and, almost literally, wrecked them, is unfortunate. Way to go, Others. Way to go.

  • mslioness

    oh.

    i always do that.

    if people learned how to share, there wouldn't be a fucking problem.

  • Mr. Know-It-All

    Do what? Walk on the left side of the sidewalk? Then you're the one that needs to learn how to share, dingbat. That's your share of the sidewalk--the right side. Or does "share" mean to you that you get to take what you want and everyone else gets to take what's left? Rdayk is absolutely right--expecting others to run a slalom course down the sidewalk to avoid people like you wandering every which way is selfish and rude.

  • mslioness

    staircase.

    read and calm the fuck down.

  • Mr. Know-It-All

    Read what? The part where you replied "Oh, I do that" to a list of like 4 different annoying things? In any case, everything I wrote applies equally to the stairs. So BE CLEAR, keep to the right, and shut the fuck up.

  • mslioness

    wtf?!

    you're passionate about stairs and sidewalks...

    my ass can walk wherever it feels like walking and so can yours.



  • ShadowCat

    1) I hate any self-absorbed asshole typing away on a blackberry or iphone and not paying attention to the fact that they are walking right for you or blocking the sidewalk. I prefer to aim for them and clip them in the shoulder.

    2) I hate groups of coworkers who walk slowly side by side on narrow midtown sidewalks at lunch. Fuck off and move, the rest of us are hungry too!

    3) I hate tourists who come all the way to NYC and go to fucking Red Lobster, McDonalds or fucking Applebees. Here's a dollar - buy some guts and try something new. You're in the best fucking city on the planet. Live it up!

  • akuryo

    1) Traffic cops

    2) Stinky hotdog carts

    3) Tousists with expensive cameras snapping pics of graffiti, neon signs and billboards. WTF you never seen a McD?

  • snickerdoodle

    Tourists and tip jars.

  • Sketto

    Can we add to the list - People Who Think the Insult "Skinny-Pants Hipster" is Clever?

  • Potty Boy

    Add to the list people who call Wall Street "FiDi".

  • jackrusso

    that's funny...the people who block the subway doors are probably the

    same borderline retards that actually read the nypost.

blog comments powered by Disqus

send a tip

tips@gothamist.com