We have talked about door holding etiquette before, because let's be honest... it's weird when someone holds the door open for you when you're too far away. Maybe you aren't even going in to that door, or maybe you want to go at your own pace and not get your heart rate up, or maybe it's none of anyone's business and they just shouldn't be holding the door open at awkward distances! This practice in misguided chivalry is still happening out there, however, so it's time for a refresher course. Enter: these dudes from Utah (yes, we will import our etiquette teachings from Utah if need be). more ›

The latest coming to us from the etiquette-abandoning bowels of New York is a photograph of this man, sitting spread eagle on a much-coveted rush hour subway seat. Our tipster tells us this was taken just after 6 p.m. yesterday evening, on the R train uptown. At least this offender took his backpack off so (once upright again) it wouldn't knock into fellow straphangers, but let's not get sidetracked here. This is a real problem, and while they do love to spread their legs wide open like the whole world's between their knees, public enemy #1 isn't just man. more ›

A new New Yorker, recently relocated from a small Texas town, is wondering about the walking habits of locals. This person posted on Reddit, asking, "I seem to have these instances... there will be 2-3 people walking side by side, taking up the entire width of the sidewalk. We'll be walking towards each other and, without fail, they won't 'shrink' to make room for anyone to pass. Is this a 'chicken' kind of thing? First person to move loses?" more ›

A reader sent in the above photo, noting it was taken "at 6 p.m. on a crowded downtown 6 train during Friday rush hour. She got on the train at Grand Central and stayed on until Bleecker Street." First of all, there's the obvious bicycle issue, but as a second subway etiquette offense, the cyclist is also wearing an overstuffed backpack... more ›

Taxi TV is ear-shattering enough but at least there's an easily accessible "off" button. Sometimes, however, your driver may provide the entertainment. As part of the Taxicab Rider Bill of Rights, passengers have a right to control the volume of music—it states you have the right to "a noise free trip: no horn honking or radio." But, you know, it happens... and sometimes (like when alcohol is involved, mostly) it can even be sort of fun to whip through the city streets with a stranger behind the wheel while the music is turned up to 11. But not all the time. One man took this below video from the back seat of a cab this week to document the volume of the music the cab driver was playing—turns out you can go past 11 on the volume control! more ›

We never thought we'd have to write this for a first time, or a second time, nevermind a third time—because isn't it common sense that you should not hug a pole on a crowded subway? Can't the NYPD crack down on these people? But last night it happened to us (don't worry, we survived)—below is our story. For accuracy's sake, we will be referring to ourselves as "Our Hero." more ›

One Rhode Island family is telling the tale of how they were kicked off a JetBlue flight—headed to Boston from Turks and Caicos—because their two-year-old child didn't want to sit her seat and instead wanted to be held by mommy. See, the pilot decided to turn the plane around and return the family, Dr. Colette Vieau, her husband, 2-year-old Natalie and 3-year-old Cecilia, to the airport. And of course there were no flights to Boston that day, so they ended up spending $2,000 for a hotel and a new flight back. more ›

In New York we get to enjoy the snow for about five minutes before it's turned into a dirt slushee. After that, layers of yellow are added by the city's canines (and sometimes humans), along with street grime, and other little treats (rocks, needles, whatever). What we're saying is, our snow is dirty and depressing enough that the least we could do is pick the dog shit out of it. So this little pet etiquette reminder is for you, dog owners. more ›

So far this year we're doing terribly in the etiquette department. That guy with the phone at the philharmonic, those teenaged seat hogs, and a shocking 42% of you are upstreamers! Well here comes our latest offender: a tiny dog (at least it wasn't an opossum?). more ›

Earlier this week we became huge fans of New York Philharmonic music director Alan Gilbert when he stopped a performance of Mahler's Ninth Symphony just before the end to shame an audience member whose iPhone wouldn't stop marimba-ing. And we weren't the only ones—the internet quickly filled with praise for Gilbert's agressive actions. But what of the offending iPhone owner? How's he doing? Well, now we have his side of the story. And the answer is not well! more ›

Henry Alford, who has written for the New York Times and Vanity Fair, has just released his book on etiquette, titled, Would It Kill You to Stop Doing That: A Modern Guide to Manners... and the New Yorker has some tips for his fellow urban dwellers. Over at Thirteen, he got in to one of the most despicable actions one often witnesses on the streets of New York: upstreaming. You know, when you are trying to hail a cab and another person, or group of people, walk just ahead of you to hail one first (teenagers probably do this a lot). more ›

The issue of children and dining out is a bit of a hot topic these days (baby tax, anyone?), but until now, few have dared to explore the question of children and...dining in. Leave it to the highfalutin gourmands over at Gourmet to tackle the issue, advising dinner party hosts on how to ban kiddies from the table in a polite way. Sort of. more ›

Lately, more than ever, we've encountered the worst sort of subway etiquette offender: that jerk wearing a backpack on a crowded car. How, in 2011, is this still happening? To the people doing this: your backpack is so clearly in the way, taking up valuable space that human beings could fit in to. Here is a simple, and what we believed was a common sense solution to the problem: more ›

He was a drug dealer who killed a lot of people, but a Jamaican druglord also gave back to his community! more ›

A new sign has popped up from the Metropolitan Etiquette Authority (aka artist Jayshells), according to Vanishing NY. Last time the artist tackled subway etiquette (you can now buy those signs over at Etsy), and this time around he's targeting texting zombies. Some of the worst sidewalk etiquette criminals around! more ›

With the 10th anniversary of 9/11 fast approaching, it's important to solemnly remember the things that really matter: the heroes who made the ultimate sacrifice, the way New Yorkers came together to get through the ordeal, and, most of all, the poor politicians who've been tragically denied a speaking role at this year's memorial service. Governor Chis Christie never forgets—according to an unsourced report in the NY Post, the distinguished-looking gentleman from the Garden State is fuming about Mayor Bloomberg's 9/11 Day guest speaker list. more ›

We were well aware that Yankees caps were disproportionately popular with suspected criminals, but who knew they were popular with "uncouth" British lasses? That at least was our takeaway when we read the amazing admonishment one English woman e-mailed her daughter-in-law to-be recently, an e-mail which promptly went viral. more ›

There's a lot of etiquette that New Yorkers ignore day to day: from the subway, to the sidewalks (to the spitting on sidewalks), to how to act in a museum, to properly using the office bathroom. There are a lot of manners to be kept in check at every turn of the corner, but one that we could do without is holding the door open. Inevitably it just leads to the third scenario in the below cartoon. So New York, we beg of you: please don't hold the door. more ›

Some kids at Hawthorne Country Day School, which is dedicated to educating children with disabilities, have picked up on the subway etiquette movement and incorporated it into their latest hit: "Get Your Foot Off My Foot." We can all relate! HuffPo notes their inspiration was rooted in frustration, specifically, they "got tired of straphangers scuffing their shoes." Though is it really subway-specific? Videogum boiled it down dealing with the broader issue that "we have all faced at one point or another in our lives, when someone has their foot on your foot, and you want them to get their foot off of your foot. STORIES FROM THE STREETS!" more ›

We could use a handout like this underground; the Bold Italic has created an etiquette guide for the people of the San Francisco Muni... and it's easily translatable to our own mass transit system. They write, "People get bitch slapped on the bus everyday. To keep things relatively amicable, we've come up with an etiquette guide for all Muni riders. May the force be with you on your future commutes." They seem to have included it all: no fast food, no peeing on the seats, no nail clipping... no tickling. What did they miss? [via Laughing Squid] more ›