Crowds

[winneythepooh7]

Does anyone else get overly anxious around crowds? I decided to hit the mall in Long Island today so I could use my Victoria's Secret gift card (I thought they would have a better selection than the picked over stores here in Queens). Anyways, it was sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo crowded I got my stuff there and basically had to run out of there, even though there were other things I wanted to look for. It just put me in an instant bad mood. People screaming, teenagers/little kids everywhere, I just don't like crowds. And don't even get me started about the traffic. Does anyone else get like this? I don't even want to go to the local store up the block nowto get stuff I need for my apartment (ie. dog food, cat litter). Have I lost it?

[wordsmith]

I don't get anxious, but I get EXTREMELY irritable. I'm a fairly patient person, but being in a psycho large, pushy, obnoxious crowd of other cranky, irritable, impatient people instantly pushes me into behaving like somebody I'm not. Traffic does the same. I attribute it to having spent most of my life in low-population density areas. I really have a short fuse when it comes to that.

[WeirdBrake]

I hate hate hate hate hate HATE crowds. I'd go out of my way to avoid them.

[winneythepooh7]

It's interesting because I will take the subway in the morning and that doesn't bother me. Once in awhile, you run into pushy obnoxious people, but mostly, everyone is just trying to get to work. I don't know what it is about the mall but it instantly makes me feel psycho. I guess maybe it's because I feel less control over the situation? Like, on the subway, I can wait for a less crowded train to come by. At the mall from the parking lot, people are cutting me off and then just not looking where they are going once inside, yelling, etc.

[pisces2473]

I don't like obnoxious crowds either...normal crowds are fine, but when it's the mall and it's chaotic like that, no way.

[wordsmith]

In terms of mall traffic, there's another force at work for me. I personally hate shopping. I do it because I have to, and just want to get in and out. I don't shop for pleasure or recreation. And all the crowds and throngs of people clogging the aisles and walkways and registers and such make me annoyed, because in my head, I'm just like, "You're all just doing this for something fun to do, and I just want to get in and out, so can you please make way???"

[pisces2473]

Yeah, that's definitely me. When I shop, I'm on a mission. I want a pair of shoes in this size, this color...or a new shirt that looks like this...and I HATE when people are just rambling about...lollygagging around like they have all the time in the world. THAT gets me SO pissed.

[winneythepooh7]

See, if I have a little cash to burn, I really don't mind shopping. I've stayed in places like Target for 2 hours some days "just looking around". BUT I only tend to do this when there is no one there, either. On New Year's Day, my boyfriend and I went to the Queens Mall right when it opened. It was very nice just walking around because no one was there. By 2PM though, it was starting to get crazy............This is a big reason why I despise Christmas shopping. I think the best times to go shopping are during the week, when everyone for the most part is working..............

[pisces2473]

See, if I have a little cash to burn, I really don't mind shopping. I've stayed in places like Target for 2 hours some days "just looking around". BUT I only tend to do this when there is no one there, either. On New Year's Day, my boyfriend and I went to the Queens Mall right when it opened. It was very nice just walking around because no one was there. By 2PM though, it was starting to get crazy............This is a big reason why I despise Christmas shopping. I think the best times to go shopping are during the week, when everyone for the most part is working..............
Yeah, that is how I am. I only want to browse when no one is there but me. I hate browsing while dodging people and carts and kids and stuff. Ugh.

This is also why I usually go grocery shopping on a Friday or Saturday night. NICE AND EMPTY!!! LOL

[winneythepooh7]

Yeah, that is how I am. I only want to browse when no one is there but me. I hate browsing while dodging people and carts and kids and stuff. Ugh.

This is also why I usually go grocery shopping on a Friday or Saturday night. NICE AND EMPTY!!! LOL


Yeah, I was so on a mission today too because I wanted to get the rest of this stuff since I have today off and so I won't have to go during the week. I just can't take another crowded store though. I didn't realize that SO MANY people had off from work today. It must suck crowded or not for the employees as well ;). I was in Target over the weekend and I heard some employees who worked in the fitting room complaining about regulars that come in during the week. They appear to be "housewives" with nothing better to do but try on piles of clothing, then they don't buy anything and complain about how Target never has their size, but repeat the same behavior the following week. I could never work in retail!!!

[wordsmith]

Yeah, that's definitely me. When I shop, I'm on a mission. I want a pair of shoes in this size, this color...or a new shirt that looks like this...and I HATE when people are just rambling about...lollygagging around like they have all the time in the world. THAT gets me SO pissed.

Yup, totally a mission shopper.

[shinyleaf]

I hear ya. I'm so glad I never had to work in a mall. Lucky, lucky me.
I actually used to like crowds, but as I'm aging (omigod, I might as well say "getting elderly"!) I find crowds, especially mall crowds, put me in a very nasty mood. I think I am going to have to get to know Ebay a little better.
I still like Winners because it isn't in a mall and I can spend 2+ hrs there if it's not crowded.

[wordsmith]

I will browse bookstores for pleasure. But they're not in my mall, and tend to be lower in irritating people.

[pisces2473]

I will browse bookstores for pleasure. But they're not in my mall, and tend to be lower in irritating people.
Some bookstores have irritating people ;)

[wordsmith]

I thought you might say that. :)

[ledzeppelinfan1]

I don't seem to get as irritated as you guys do. Crowds are part of life...it makes getting back into the car that much more a tranquil experience.

Plus...I'm kind of a people watcher...so malls are pure entertainment. :cool:

[ebruening]

Crowds in stores are one thing I can take. I CHOOSE to be there, so I figure that I can't get all snarkey with other people who have also chosen to be at that particular location at that particular time. However, the times I've gotten really upset were when I was taking public transportation in Europe. I was quite literally sandwiched between two people who smelled less than fresh in a Madrid metro car while carrying a big backpack at 10:30 p.m. for a half an hour ride to my hostel. I started freaking out big time. Crowds in enclosed spaces, not necessarily enclosed spaces in and of themselves, are what do me in.

[RudeGirl]

I'm generally anxious, but better than I have been in years. I don't like malls, or especially, supermarkets, as a result. Going to one of these super-mega Giant Eagles in the suburbs is a nightmare for me--that's why I stick to Dollar General and the little Kuhn's up the street that I can walk to.

Interestingly enough, I don't mind Wal-Mart. That's probably because I tend to go after 9 p.m., when it's virtually empty, and if I'm starting to freak out, I can have a conversation with one of the "associates."

Crowded busses and subways don't bother me--usually. If I'm on one, though, where the walkee-talkee phones are dueling, or some guy's eyeing me like he's itching to stab me, or a couple of people are having a positively homophobic conversation (one area of my city seems to attract a wealth of anti-gay people), I want to get off real bad. I also hate traffic--a lot.

Probably the worst thing for me is empty parking lots/parking garages; it's more a space thing than a crowd thing.

[joeymarjie]

I'm not a big crowd fan. I tend to get really irritated and then a little panicky if the situation becomes even busier, like at bars. I've felt pure joy at stumbling out of the back door of many a bar to the freezing cold just to get out of crazy packed places. Even busy restaurants can be a bit much for me. And I don't really care for Wal-Mart. Too many carts, baby carriages, and people who don't watch where they are going.

[winneythepooh7]

I'm not a big crowd fan. I tend to get really irritated and then a little panicky if the situation becomes even busier, like at bars. I've felt pure joy at stumbling out of the back door of many a bar to the freezing cold just to get out of crazy packed places. Even busy restaurants can be a bit much for me. And I don't really care for Wal-Mart. Too many carts, baby carriages, and people who don't watch where they are going.

Ugh, I hate busy restaurants, particularly "chain" restaurants (which suck for other reasons, as well) because of this. I've driven past the Olive Garden many times and the line was out the door. 3 outstanding family-owned homemade Italian food restaurants along the way had no lines and no craziness. Give me those any day!!!

[jrwilheim]

I don't get anxious around crowds so much as I just get really sick of them after a while. In New York, it seems you can't go very far without people blocking you...on the sidewalk, in the grocery store, everywhere. Sometimes I just get fed up with dodging around people to get simple things done, like the obstacle course I run every day at lunch trying to get to and from a deli literally a block and a half away from my office.

[AngryMomma]

I did all my Christmas shopping online this year to avoid the crowds. And this is unusual for me because I LOVE going out to shop. I could shop for 12 hours straight and keep going. But just the thought of battling the masses this year made me want to womit (like vomit but worse - yes I make up words). :) If I'm surrounded by cranky irritable people it takes like 2 seconds for me to turn into one too. Not only that, but being around horrible crowds drains the energy out of me. I just feel SO exhausted afterwards.

[lilyflower]

I hate crowds, hate it. I'm very big on my personal space - I like lots of it. I also hate traffic with a passion - it sort of makes living in the NYC metro counterintiutive - almost. :)

[SunDevil]

I have a problem being the center of attention in crowds, but have no problem at all if I blend in.

[mishl982]

Crowds are okay with me, but I do agree that I get irritated if the people are annoying. I can take shopping with long lines and dressing rooms with long lines, but when it gets to a point where I have to dodge to get out of people's ways (especially if I am walking on the right side of traffic and dumb people like to walk on their left), people start cutting lines (I hate when cashiers open their registers and say "next" in line and everyone rushes up. It's "next person" for a reason!) or it takes longer to stand in line than the total time it took me to shop, then yea, I get irritated at crowds.

[old_school_soul]

I don't mind crowds. Crowds can be cool, or annoying, it all depends on the people that make up the crowd.

[jrwilheim]

I don't seem to get as irritated as you guys do. Crowds are part of life...it makes getting back into the car that much more a tranquil experience.

Plus...I'm kind of a people watcher...so malls are pure entertainment. :cool:

I think it's a difference of scale. Probably crowds aren't as big, or as constant a feature of life, in Arkansas as they are in New York City. Sometimes it seems that everywhere you want to go in New York, you're penned in by thousands of other people trying to go the same or (more often) the opposite direction.

[biodork]

I get anxiety attacks if I'm in too big of a crowd, mainly the ones where you are squeezed in together like sardines and can't move. I don't like random people being that close to me. I can barely stand people who aren't my closest friends to even sit next to me on a small couch. I need my space.