Back to the lift/escalator topic.


Do you get scolded for not pressing the "close" button immediately after you enter the lift? or after another person getting out to another floor?

Local here are very impatience.....

Cruman, totally agree. This makes me nuts. Not only they dont walk in a straight line but they walk in groups and slowly... I often get really annoyed and push my way in (would never do that but the simple "sorry" or "m'goy" doesnt work!).

For elevators, hk is a vertical city hence you spend a lot of time in elevators going up and down (just try and calculate how many floors you climb in an elevator per day here) so people dont want to loose too much time. But some, are just selfish and dont want to share elevators also.

I often press the open button (yes am a freak) when people try to come in. But half of the time, dont even get a thank.
In france you are supposed to hold the door to the next person coming, not slap it in his face, if you do that here, people will simply use you as a doorman, no thanks no nothng, they will walk through... Did that one or two times when I arrive, dont do it any more. The hardest is to get rid of those bad habits when coming back to France!

Couples queuing in two lines, eg. at the ATMs, when only one of them needs to use it. I know it makes no difference to others in the queue but just thought it worth mentioning in this thread.

Good to see I am not alone, I dont mind the slow pace but why cant anyone walk in a straight line. I may have blinkers on but no other place I have been is like this. Does every one there have 1 leg shorter than the other?

yea...this also happened in supermarket.
Same if a family crossing the immigration, they line up 5 lines.
...I hate that shit!!!
I never seen this happened in UK/US.
Only in Asia.....

As chinese saying goes "Scared to lose out to other"!!怕蝕底
WTF is wrong with them ??
My wife , my ex does it before...I asked them to stop and it;s embarassing.
Then they said I am slow....

[ Last edited by  hunter at 1-3-2013 14:25 ]

- On the MTR they all run towards closing doors only to find out that they are not Indiana Jones.
- The best place to stop and check your phone candy crush score is right when people walk off the escalator.
- Walking in a straight line is prohibited because you carry so much speed and momentum causing you to cut off other civilians in their paths.
- When driving in your car at night, switch on your fog lights in case people can't see you.
- If the occasional foreigner holds the door open for you, act like they are not there because they must be up to something.
- If you need to sneeze do it in the loudest possible way because it'll feel good.
- Once you are on public transport turn your phone on the loudest setting and then proceed to play candy crush in all its glory.
- Each day you must win at least 5 staring contests with a random stranger.
- You go on so many adventures on a daily basis that you must wear a Tresspass rucksack, don't forget your flask of water as well.

In all seriousness I have nothing against HKers, many of them I know are actually nice people.

Why do they all stop at the top/bottom of the escalator? the number of times I have nearly bowled someone over because they stop dead once they step off the escalator.

Another issue is in Starbucks especially at the weekend. They will sit there for ages with a small cup of coffee. Then they give up the seat to their friend when he or she arrives. Starbucks in HK is the only place impossible to find somewhere to sit. But I still love HK

[ Last edited by  vc09 at 2-3-2013 07:00 ]

CunningLinguist: must just be the people in front of me then, and I have found it is more common in HK

I hate when they stop right in front of and you walk into them, then they look at you as if it is YOUR fault!

I actually was walking home from work the other day and there was to Chinese construction workers, they were clearly talking about me as this street was empty except us 3. They were staring, and staring, and.staring.

I'd had a long day at work and was totally fed up. So I put my bag on the floor and just stood there staring at them for around twenty seconds, we just stood.... Staring, they gave me the sign and walked off!

Staring is very rare in HK, if you can't stand it don't even go to Mainland China where you will be stared at all the time !

I admit, I am a door-opener.  I am not against door-closers, but I hate it when they inconsiderately close it.  IE I'm talking about when they deliberately push the door-close button as soon as they see parents with prams/small children or elderly people.  In these cases, as soon as I see them reach for the door-close button, I would act.  I physically stick my foot or arm to block open the door, pushing that middle bit of the lift door where it has a sensor switch and HOLDING it open until I am happy.  And I would say aloud, "Slow and easy, no need to rush!" just to piss off the door-close pusher.  Any other time, I don't really mind if they close the door, it is just when people WHO need the lift and cannot do the 50m dash to get in!

Still on lifts, why can't HK people MOVE into the lift, why do they have to stand at the door when they enter and block the entry when there are room for another 10 people?  You KNOW! there will be people wanting to enter the lift because they have been standing there waiting with you for the last 10 minutes!  Why would you look so angry when I forcibly SHOULDER you as I walk INTO and OUT of the lift!

And if you know you will be getting out of the lift last (ie, top or ground floor) MOVE INTO THE BACK OF THE LIFT, so you don't block the door!

On the side topic of opening doors at malls and stuff, where you need to either push or pull. Have you notice that HK people actually stand there WAITING for other people to open the door and do the MacGuyver trick to slide in through the door.  I open doors for mothers, elderly and cute girls.  (sorry dads, not for you this time)  The amount of times I have STOPPED (yes, I stop) people from using the door that I just opened for a pram to go through is numerous! I am quite tall and big for a Chinese guy, so I don't usually get challenged when I stop them.

Opening the other door with you hands, what is wrong with that?? I approach these doors and you see people only using the left-hand door because it is opened and everyone is using it, but the right-hand door is just as operable. You see people actually standing there WAITING for a free gap/chance to enter through that door.  I have such fun when I walk straight to the right-side, PUSH the door into their face and exit without loosing my stride!  HK people are always in a rush, yet they would stand there and wait for the door to open for them.

I walk slow!  Because I walk slower than the HK pace, people tend to flow around me so I can usually walk in a straight line.

In the styx of HK I still used to get stares...

My SO lived very far out in Yuen Long, I used to go her place sometimes and they used to stop and stare.

Very much in the spirit of this thread ... one thing I noticed when I first arrived was the issue of "personal space".  Personal space is the distance that people naturally adopt, when they are in a social situation.

We notice that different cultures adopt different amounts of personal space - for example people in London will be most comfortable at a different distance from each other, than New Yorkers would (don't ask me which is greater, my guess would be personal space in NY is greater than London!)

Some things ...

people from rural areas tend to need greater personal space - when they shake hands (if they ever do!) they have to lean forward just to reach each other.  Conversely people in cities stand much closer, and would feel insulted if you stand as far apart as rural people prefer.

If you put a large-distance person with a small-distance person, you get interesting things happening - for example if an Indian talks with a Brit, they go into a sort of a dance, with the Indian trying to get close enough to talk, and the Brit backing away trying to increase the space ... each of them being uncomfortable about the other's behaviour.  

So what about Hong Kong?  

Hong Kong is the only city I'm aware of that seems to have a "negative" personal space.  

What I mean is, this is the only place where it is accepted as a normal part of life, to bump into people as you move around.  In other cities, however busy it is, if you bump into someone they will stop and look around, and you both apologise to each other.  Ok maybe not everyone apologises, but there is an acknowledgement anyway.  Point is, bumping into each other is not considered a normal social behaviour.  

In Hong Kong, you bump into people all the time, and even if you stop they don't.  It's just accepted.  I.e. it is assumed that even if you are in each others' way, the correct behaviour is to just charge ahead anyway.  

This contrasts with Japan, for example, which I would describe as a culture where "zero" personal space is the accepted norm.  Complete strangers have no hesitation of standing right next to you in full physical contact (especially on the subway) but even in the busiest places in Tokyo, nobody ever actually bumps into anyone, and if they do (those very rare instances), both parties stop and acknowledge.  

But in Hong Kong, no matter how hard you try to duck and weave, it's bump-bump-bump as you go about...

This actually happened to me in Tokyo, travelling on a subway with my luggage in tow, trying to get to Shibuya station.  It must be afternoon rush hour or something, I had one hand on my luggage handle and the other holding on to the overhead knobby thing.  Next thing I know, the train is jammed pack with people, and there is this cute Jap chick squeezed right in front of me (facing me).  I see that one hand she is holding onto the verticle metal bar thing, while the other is holding her mobile phone.  There is "ZERO" space between her breasts and my chest!  (ahhh so soft)  I was trying to look anywhere but at her since this has never happened to me and was feeling a bit awkward but she doesn't even have any reaction, as if this happens to her ALL the time.  As soon as I got off the train, I told my GF that we are travelling on the subway everyday on our holiday during peak hour rush!

I have this to say. Why is it HK people close the door t o lift, steal taxi by going in front, jump out of seats in planes to get out as fast as possible, and other rush-rush-hong-so-busy-nonsense, why do HKers walk so frigging slowly?
rush rush to then walk at snails pace.

Last night I did the unthinkable ... pressed the Door Open button when a mid age gentleman was approaching the lift. He did not thank me, he apologised for the delay ...

Haha! It's good to know that HK lifts do actually have a |<>| button too.

curious, is spitting on the streets tolerated in HK or something really disgusting?  Here in the states, mostly the mainlanders do a nasty amount of spitting everythere. its fucking disgusting.

spitting in public in Hong Kong is fined - same as littering - if you are caught

... and if you think spitting is bad, wait until you see someone peeing or shitting in a public street ...