AITA for not throwing myself out of the way of someone walking straight at me?
"AITA for not throwing myself out of the way of someone walking straight at me?"
This happened at work as I was walking out. The main walkway that leads from one area to another is long and narrow. Enough room for two people to pass each other without issue, but it's still tight. Now I'm a big guy. Tall, broad, and, well, yeah, a bit overweight. Due to this, I'm constantly aware of my surroundings as I know I can easily get into people's way.
So, as I'm walking out, down the long and narrow walkway, I'm whistling a jaunty tune since I'm happy to be leaving work. I also spy a coworker in the distance walking toward me with her face buried in her phone. She's walking down the middle of the aisle with no sense of what's going on.
As I was whistling rather loudly, I made the mistake of thinking she heard me. Nope. At the last second I said, "Excuse me!" But she was oblivious and walked right into me. Being the large guy I am, and her being rather small, she was jarred sideways and dropped her phone.
Before I could apologize (not that I did anything wrong) and ask if she was okay, she picked up her phone and glared at me and gave me a good old, "What the f? My phone better not be broken."
Well, so much for apologizing. I said, "Well, if your face wasn't buried in it, you would have heard me and saw my fat ass coming straight at you. Try paying attention next time." I then returned to whistling my jaunty work leaving tune and walked away as she spewed a string of profanities at my back, including being an AH.
I'm not worried about anything happening at work about it other than rumors being spread. Just wanted to know if I'm an AH for being a big guy who pays attention to his surroundings.
NOTE: To clarify, the walkway is about 4 feet wide. Enough room for two people to pass, but not really any space to step aside into. There's equipment on either side with limited access space. Think of a really narrow supermarket aisle with just enough room for two people to pass.
Here's what people had to say to OP:
Driftwood44 said:
NTA, people need to put their phones down and watch where they're walking.
Charming_Ad_1072 said:
NTA. It is not your obligation to make place for someone that doesn't care of looking where she/he is walking.
Cautious-Job8683 said:
NTA. If someone is heading for a walk collision with me, and there is no easy or obvious step aside, I stop and say something. If they then collide with me, that's on them.
If your colleague failed to notice a large person whistling and saying hey until they quite literally collided with them, then there isn't really anything you could have done to get their attention.
If they are going to be That oblivious when walking, then they should at least tether their phone to themselves with a strap, so that they don't drop it when they inevitably collide with pillars/walls/doors/people...
lilgreenfish said:
NTA. I’m a woman, 5’4”, but I have swimmers shoulders. I’ve shoulder-checked more than one guy who saw me but didn’t move, fully expecting me to move. One guy actually apologized after…lol. I also don’t move for people who are buried in their phones.
Charming_Ad_1072 said:
NTA. It is not your obligation to make place for someone that doesn't care of looking where she/he is walking.