Action that, when taken, immediately makes my opinion of you go down to “moron” or lower:
Pushing the crosswalk button or elevator button when I’m already standing there waiting for it.
Hello! I am not a moron and standing here without pushing the button. By pushing it, you are insulting my intelligence and disrespecting me, and therefore deserve no respect. Especially with elevator buttons where you can already see that it’s pushed.
I’m sure I’ve ranted about this already, but it happened not once, but twice today. At the same crosswalk.
especially when everyone knows those buttons aren’t connected to anything, that they’re just there for psychological reasons…
But I like pushing Andy’s buttons! >D
The elevator thing is pretty annoying, but I’ve lived in places where the crosswalk buttons supposedly paid attention to the number of times it had been pushed (with a timeout, so you can’t just stand there pushing it constantly or something). Then again, it was probably all superstition 🙂
I just read the 1st part of this, but yeah, I’d say ppl just don’t trust you. Or at least they’re trusting you to be dumb.
Me, I won’t press if it’s lit up, but I like to jab at those buttons multiple times in case it’s like some button on a somewhat broken toy that works half the time.
See, the other person thinks, “in case there was a mechanical failure…”
What you should do is be a button-operator. Refuse to let anyone else near the buttons in your life and insist that you be the one to press them at all times. People will think you’re a dick, but at least they won’t think you’re a moron.
Most crosswalks in Santa Barbara make a very loud and high-pitched beeping noise when you press them.
I would normally assume that this noise serves to inform the individual that it has, in fact, been pressed. However, it apparently serves only to annoy the fuck out of me as everyone in town presses each button multiple times, up to a maximum of until the light actually turns green.
If you think you’re being dissed, half of my town should be cited for noise pollution.
Eh, I’m one of those people that has to push the button, regardless of whether or not someone else is standing there (for crosswalks only). I’ve actually tried walking up to a crosswalk and consciously /not/ pushing it… I lasted about four seconds before I leaned over and pushed it anyway. If I didn’t see them push it, and there’s no way to tell that it has been pushed, then it might as well have not been pushed.
Think about it… in the replies you’ve gotten so far, you have someone who wouldn’t push it because it does nothing amd someone who’d push it multiple times with a decent delay between presses. When walking up to someone you’ve never met at a random crosswalk, how are you supposed to know what they think about crosswalk buttons? You can’t, and therefore must assume that you can’t rely on their button-pressing prowess, and must take action on your own.
I have the same pet peeve.
Funny thing happened today on my way to work. I get to the crosswalk, and there’s this older gentlemen (a veteran, apparent by his VFW cap) standing right next to the crosswalk button with his left hand resting on it. So I assume he’s already pushed the button. So I just stand there. Another dude walks up and waits with us. The light turns green, but the walk sign does not appear. I am bewildered. The vet looks right and left, begins crossing the street. I’m sticking to my guns until I get a sign. Other waiting dude then pushes the button and the signal immediately switches to walk.
Out of being polite, I didn’t push the button, but it turns out the vet didn’t push it either, despite leaning on the pole and resting his left hand on the button. I gotta start pushing people’s buttons.
Hahahaha… there are no crosswalk buttons in NY. So there’s one less stress for you. You should move out here. Sunshine and warmth are overrated anyways >.>;;