Note: The below was written shortly after the last incident mentioned (cf. below). I was not in a good mood at the time (a hit in the face can do that), and the reading should be made with this in mind. I may or may not write a more diplomatic version in the future; however, I stand by the general outline.
One of my main complaints about women is that they do not appear to have any idea at all of what goes on around them—it is as if they were blind. This can be particularly well noticed in stores where they use shopping carts: Passages are often blocked in outrageous manners—(almost) always by women; (almost) never by men. Of the many occasions I myself have been a victim, the following are particularly noteworthy:
I ventured up a wide aisle were two carts could comfortably pass each other. However, there were two women, both with a cart, slowly moving forward in the opposite direction, engrossed in conversation, and blocking the entire aisle. I waited ten seconds or so, expecting them to move apart to allow my passage, or at least move faster. But no: after ten seconds they had moved about two meters (!) without any kind of reaction.
In a bookstore I visited, a narrow aisle had a bottle-neck in form of a pillar. There was enough space on either side for a single person to pass or look at the shelves. One of the slots was already blocked by one woman. I intended to pass through the other, but saw a second woman heading towards the same slot from the opposite direction. I did the polite thing and halted, allowing her to pass first. Despite my being in her direct line of sight, manifestly waiting for her passage, she moved into the second slot, halted (!) and started browsing the books—leaving the aisle completely blocked.
Before |w | | | | ow| | | |I | After | | | | |wow| | | |I |
This not to mention a number of women who have almost cost me an eye by waving umbrellas around, or the woman who, in the middle of well-trafficked board-walk, threw out her arm to point at something—with such speed and lack of control that I had no chance whatsoever of ducking or stepping aside before I was hit in the face.
Is it so bloody hard to just take a look around, and spend a thought on what happens in the vicinity?!?