Some Hallway Etiquette

I’ve really enjoyed my four years at Uni. I love the people, the education, the atmosphere, and the liberty. I don’t have many complaints about the school, but there’s one thing that really bugs me, and it hasn’t gotten better as the years have gone by. What really annoys me is Uni’s hallways during passing periods.

I’m going to start out by saying that this is just my general views and opinions on what I’ve seen throughout my past four years at this school. I’m also going to admit that I have done some of the things that I’m going to mention below, but I’ve gotten better in being more considerate about how I move across Uni’s busy halls.

My two main complaints about Uni hallways during passing periods:

1. There’s always someone that walks SO slowly down the middle of the hallway, right in the middle of the passing period. You know what? It doesn’t even bug me that they’re walking slowly. I don’t judge them because they might’ve just gotten back from fitness, they’re conserving energy for a sport commitment they have in the afternoon, or are just tired. I understand, I’ve been through that a lot. I just wish that they could just move over to the edge of the hall and not block anyone else’s path. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve tried to maneuver around someone, but haven’t been able to because that person just won’t move over to let me pass by and there’s no more room anywhere else. More times than I can count I’ve had to do the awkward half-walk/ half-jog around that person, or people, to then speed walk to my next class. And I realize that no one does it on purpose, because if I asked anyone, I know they would kindly move aside. Maybe it’s just that they have a lot of things on their mind (teenagers tend to have that), or they're just focusing all of their energy on getting from point A to point B, and they forget a little about their surroundings.

2. There’s always someone that’s walking efficiently down the hall and sporadically they choose to stop and start talking to their friends in the middle of the hall, not letting anyone through. I’m totally for conversing with friends, I know there might be something essential that you forgot to tell them, but please, like I said before, just move over or save it for later. Whatever you have to say to your friend, nine times out of ten, it can wait. And if you do find yourself needing to stop, move quickly out of the middle of the hallway. Now, it you are on the stairs, dear god, do not stop and talk to your friends! It makes walking up or down each floor so much harder, and for those of us that are less coordinated (like myself) it can actually be dangerous. Save it for when you are finished climbing the stairs.

I know in the scheme of things it’s not a huge issue, but it is something that, at times, has really irritated me. It’s not all the time, but maybe there’s just that one person that almost made me late to my class because they didn’t move over just a little to let me go by, or that other person that almost made me trip because they just chose to stop walking. Basically I wanted to emphasize how we should be more considerate as we move through our small school. Let's have some hallway etiquette, for our sake and for that of others.