People who ask you for directions and then go in completely the opposite direction

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this seems to happen to me a lot: i'm out walking when some lost-looking person (usually, but not always, a tourist) says "excuse me, where's o'connell street/trinity college/other site of interest in dublin?". my first reaction is invariably to wipe all knowledge of the city from my brain and go "duhh" for a minute or two. if it's really bad i tell them i don't know and to ask someone else. but mostly i recover enough to give what i think are pretty good (pedestrian) directions. BUT THEN they say thanks and gaily head off in precisely the opposite direction, as i look on helplessly, wondering if i should shout "no, not that way, you idiot, haven't you listened to a word i said?" at them, or whether i was so incoherent they decided not to listen to me at all and try their luck with someone bearing less of a resemblance to Cletus the Slack-Jawed Yokel.

does this happen to anyone else? are you any good at giving directions? do you feel a sense of obligation to the direction seeker that prompts you to follow them and check they're going the right way (and possibly get arrested for stalking)? or do you reckon it's their own lookout if they don't follow your instructions? what about *asking* for directions - do you do it a lot, or do you (like me) stride purposefully in what you think is the right direction and eventually have to ask some dodgy tramp who then sets his dog on you?

― rener, Tuesday, 20 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

new answers this way. no, not that way, you've gone past it. back a bit ...

― rener, Tuesday, 20 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

I have the opposite problem, in thinking I know a place and being able to help, and then, er, not. And even when I do manage a description, they invaribly walk right up to the next person and, no thought for my feelingXor, and ask them.

― Graham, Tuesday, 20 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

I get customers who'll ask then wander down an utterly different aisle, leaving me standing behind the deli gesturing and muttering 'no, no that's aisle 23, you'll not find eggs down there, what are you doing?' or I'll begin to explain and they'll walk off halfway through. Moral: All members of the public are idiots.

― alix, Tuesday, 20 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

I give good directions which YEARS of bossy older sisterism must be some sort of training ground for doing. "Go that way! And that way! And that way! Do as I say!" I don't like meandering instructions eg. 'carry on down there and when you get to the set of lights, go right along by the river and AAAAGH!'

After all these years in London I am amazed at the complete lack of direction-sense inherent in Real Londoners (cabdrivers are the BIG exception here). I am training all Londoners to use New York practice eg. Shop X is at the junction of Streets Y and Z. To get there turn left on Street A then right on Street B.

That said I would have a nightmare with deliveries if it wasn't already Proven By Science that all despatch riders live in my building, or have done at some point.

― suzy, Tuesday, 20 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

It's all rather confusing really.

― Confused Person, Tuesday, 20 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Yasss, but New York system only so good because of grid system and long straight roads? So quickest way to a particular intersection is often to walk along current road until you hit one of the two roads of the intersection. Easy. Best way to corner of St John's Street and Clerkenwell Road less to determine w/o map/knowledge if you are on Fleet Street.

― RickyT, Tuesday, 20 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

why do i get asked for directions. no matter where i am, the confused couple will let all these people go by and then nab ME. there must be something on the back of my jacket saying "only I am local -- ask ME". it's only recently narking a lot now cos i heff moved and i don't really know this area well.

― Alan Trewartha, Tuesday, 20 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

I tend to look at my hands in order to tell directions. Ummmmm....looks at hand, ah yes, that is the left one, you wanna go THAT way... uhhhh hrrrmm yassss. Also am rubbidge with streetnames so tend to refer to landmarks/shops/PUBS instead which is better than go to "xxxxxx" street where the sign will be unreadable and hidden anyway OH NO I AM LOST!

― Sarah, Tuesday, 20 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Also am rubbidge with streetnames so tend to refer to landmarks/shops/PUBS instead which is better than go to "xxxxxx" street where the sign will be unreadable and hidden anyway OH NO I AM LOST!

i like when people refer to landmarks, pubs, signs etc - i find it much easier to follow those sort of directions than the "take the next right, then left, then second left, turn right again and go on for 2.35 yards" sort.

also, you know when you give directions to someone who happens to be going in the same direction as you? is it polite to offer to walk with them? or is it better to hang back a few yards and let them get on with it? i tend to do the latter, but i always feel i'm being a bit rude. or creepy in a "heh heh, i'm following you" way.

― rener, Tuesday, 20 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

I will often walk with them part of the way, so long as lost person is not a skanky ole man. There are LOTS of confused people looking for the British Museum where I am.

― suzy, Tuesday, 20 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

I Ont know why people in BOston would ask me for driving directions as I never drove there when I lived there and had little clue about streets. Once these two canadian arabs were asking me where outlets were, and how to have fun in Boston. I told them to go downtown and they were like " Bah !we already went there, no fun!" I felt like hiting their shins with my umbrella cane and running away. So much hair gel and gold.

― Mike Hanle y, Tuesday, 20 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

This has happened to me quite a few times, though sometimes it's even worse because they're going to the EXACT SAME PLACE. Sometimes I offer to walk with them if they look particularly dumb/harmless or if the place is quite tricky to get to but I feel really awkward.

It's not like I can pretend I don't know how to get there. I can't rush off because what if they get lost, arrive late, see me and yell at me for giving bad directions? I can't walk slowly behind them either because they'll think I'm following them. This is very awkward.

― jamesmichaelward, Tuesday, 20 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

If you don't want to feel bad, cross the road or go into a newsagent.

― suzy, Tuesday, 20 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

you look at them in unfeigned delight, say FOLLOW ME unnecessarily loudly, then shoot off at a great pace, holding up an umbrella which is NOT OPEN (even if it is raining).

ps i haf nevah done this — but then i nevah go anywhere

― mark s, Tuesday, 20 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

I think it is cool, even if only to gt me wondering. I hate showing people the way - because it necessitates stupid boring conversation, and distracts me from my mission to either the internet, the pub, or the cafe.

― Menelaus Darcy, Tuesday, 20 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

You know those people who you're talking about? That's me that is. I can't understand directions so I rarely ask for them. But yes, I'm sure sometimes I think I might have cracked my problem and walk off smiling in the opposite direction and they think 'Idiot'.

― Nick, Thursday, 22 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Me too. Even if I ask for directions, I just lose concentration (actually interest) after "go straight down there, take the first, no, the third, not counting , is that the second? hang on, no, it is the third left, just after the dry cleaners but before you get to the pub - what's it called? the something something, you'll recognise it when you see it, but then you'll have gone too far..."*. By that point I'm just smiling and nodding, and by the time they've finished I've forgotten the start, so off I go in the wrong direction, embarrassed and apologetic and hoping they won't call me back to put me right so that the whole sorry cycle starts again.

*NB this is how I give verbal directions. I'm good writing them down, though.

― Ellie, Thursday, 22 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

ten months pass...

If you mean left, say "right", and vaguely point left, will they get more lost?

― Graham (graham), Friday, 11 October 2002 11:34 (twenty-three years ago)

Why does everyone assume they want to go to the place now and not later?

― N. (nickdastoor), Friday, 11 October 2002 11:37 (twenty-three years ago)

i'm always getting the words for left and right wrong so i stick to hand gestures and say "this way" or "that way".

and... mind meld!
if people wander off in the wrong direction after i've given them directions i just assume they wanted to know the directions for future reference and have something else to do first.

― angela (angela), Friday, 11 October 2002 11:51 (twenty-three years ago)

A couple asked me directions to a place within 10 minutes wlak of my house, and just off the street I was standing on. They even had a map, but I got confused, and I was looking at the map, and maps ceased making sense to me and I didn't understand and it was all confusing and scary and I didn't cry so yay, but I was also no help at all.

― Sofa King Alternative (Sofa King Alternative), Friday, 11 October 2002 13:29 (twenty-three years ago)

I hate it when people do that, but what I hate even more is when they don't say thank you, the ignoramuses.

― PJ Miller (PJ Miller), Friday, 11 October 2002 13:36 (twenty-three years ago)

two months pass...

I've been asked directions twice in the last two days, which is more than I have in the whole of the last two days. Is it my new hair?

― Graham (graham), Thursday, 9 January 2003 15:10 (twenty-three years ago)

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People who ask you for directions and then go in completely the opposite direction - C/D?