As I was trying to figure out what I wanted to write about for this post, I was sitting in my car at 3:13 and somebody cut me off just as I was about to leave. This bothered me, because I feel like there are certain rules you follow in any given society, and I figured that the NNHS society should be no different. Regardless, it seems that I was wrong, and that people either don’t know or don’t respect the unwritten rules of NNHS, so I figured it would be fun to list them and explain them for this week. These rules are listed in no particular order of importance, but should all be adhered to, and really, should not need to be said out loud in the first place. But, I digress.
#1 Leaving the Athletic Lot
Okay, I understand that when the final bell rings, everybody wants to get home as soon as possible. That completely warranted, but you have to understand that there are rules in place. I always park in the Athletic lot because in my opinion, getting out of the NPAC lot is damn near impossible. That being said, getting out of the athletic lot is not easy either. I always try to park in the Northernmost (Closest to Ogden) row because the more southern rows have to wait for kids to cross the crosswalk heading towards Benedetti, and oftentimes you can get out faster. The real problem for me is just before you exit the lot, where the Athletic lot and the Main Entrance lot converge (see below)
I feel like it should be pretty obvious, but at this intersection, you ALWAYS go one and one. Meaning, a car from the left, then a car from the right, and so on. It’s a system that works to make sure everyone gets out at a reasonable time, and normally when everyone adheres to the system, you can get 5-7 cars out on one cycle of a Benedetti-Ogden red light. HOWEVER, people have started doubling up, tailgating the car in front of them, and trying to cut off that driver on the other side. Stop it. This is such an easy rule to follow, and that fact that people try to cheat the system baffles me. I can’t believe I have to tell people this, but just wait. I promise you’ll get out.
#2 Clogging Hallways
For the love of all that is holy, walk on the right side of halls. None of this middle-hall garbage that slows down traffic in both directions. If you want to stop and have a conversation with someone in the hall, by all means go ahead, but peel off to one side and don’t stop the flow of traffic. When people stop in the middle of the hall and I bump into them, and then they have the AUDACITY to glare at me, I swear a part of me dies inside. And speaking of glaring, why are you glaring at me when I overtake you? I saw the space, you weren’t moving fast enough, and I solved the problem. It’s nothing against you, but at the end of the day my legs are longer than yours and I just want to get to class. And another thing, the staircases. Stop shoving through people on the staircase. It’s a terrible idea that one of these days somebody’s gonna get hurt. Just wait for space to open up and move slowly. Again, this is something that shouldn’t even have to be said, but it’s not getting any better.
#3 Lightning Round
I covered my big two pet peeves of people just ignoring the rules, so I’l use this space to list some of the smaller rules people break for seemingly no reason. Hew we go:
- If I need to record something or watch a video, and you see me walking towards a huddle room, don’t speed up to cut me off before I get there. Why? You’re just gonna sit and watch TikTok anyway
- Stop making TikToks in the hall during classes if you’re blended/in lunch. Unnecessary and you make it awkward to walk past you in the hall
- If you walk up to your class and see people waiting in the hall , don’t walk up and try to open the door. Why do you think everyone is waiting? They know it’s locked
- Stop playing your own music on JBL’s in the hall. Nobody wants to hear that
Again, all of these are super easy rules to follow that when in effect create a better experience for everyone, but for some reason people seem to struggle with it. As long as you have some sort of compassion or understanding for your common man, we can work much better in our environment, and everyone will be happier. Looking back, I realize that a lot of this post was just me ranting about little things that make me mad, but currently I have 17 minutes until the deadline, so I’m just going to run with it. Thanks for reading, and for the love of God, please walk faster.
Gabe, I honestly agree with all of your points, but especially the ones about the Athletic parking lot. North at about 3:15 in the afternoon on weekdays is actually one of the scariest places on Earth. I am always worried about getting hit, but at the same time, I try to stop people from cutting me off as much as possible. Another thing I would like to add on to what you said is the amount of people that just drive through the empty parking spaces trying to get to the exit and then end up having to cut people off to get into the line to leave. There really isn’t any reason to put yourself in that situation, and it makes it so much more dangerous for the pedestrians (aka the juniors just trying to get to Benedetti). Honestly though, a lot of the time when it’s at the convergence between the Athletic lot and the main lot, I find that it’s parents and teachers who are not abiding by the unwritten rules, even though it seems like they should know better than high schoolers how to drive properly. Overall, you definitely brought up some points that needed to be voiced.
How did you get that aerial shot of the athletic parking lot? Awesome. I enjoyed reading this blog and the all you have to deal with during the day and school and students. I have enjoyed reading your blogs this semester.
Gabe, I really enjoyed your blog because I think you addressed some issues within our school that really needed to be brought to light. Starting with the athletic parking lot- I feel like this area ranges from frustrating to actually stressful. One of the issues I noticed is I feel like I have to watch out for cars that are going probably 30 miles per hour in a place with a high concentration of students. One time I saw a minor car crash happen right in front of me as I was leaving the school. I appreciate how you brought up how people don’t always follow the one-and-one rule. This is super annoying because it already takes long enough to leave the parking lot. Something interesting that I have noticed regarding this is that the people who break the rule more often than not are adults rather than other students in my experience. The hallway thing is also incredibly annoying. There is this group of kids that always stand in a cluster at the bottom of a stairwell that I usually try to use after third period and they take up so much space and force everyone to walk around them. All of these things are so annoying and I think it’s important that we don’t let these people get away with it.
I completely understand your frustrations, especially on the road. I don’t know if you’ve tried exiting school out from the NPAC, but there is a exit where essentially 4 lanes converge. I have a lot of gripes about people driving in traffic, especially around the school. The passing/fast lane on the left is meant to go faster, which means you shouldn’t sit in the lane under the speed limit when 5 cars are tailgating behind you. Additionally I also feel the same way about people slow walking and taking up the entire hallway. Especially around the stars near the small cafe, it feels like there’s rush hour every passing period in the halls. For these annoyances, I reasoned that this is due to poor architecture and engineering design of the roads and halls at school. Thanks for sharing these.
I like the idea of this blog post because I think in today’s world people often forget to have some common sense and decency. I can tell you that I get immense satisfaction from getting aggressive and stopping the person creeping out from the right turn lane from cutting me off when I am also trying to leave the athletic lot. One thing I try to think about is to be more steadfast in our manners and not be afraid to call people out when we think they’re doing the wrong thing. If we sit idly by while people continue to disobey the unwritten rules, we are no better than the rule breakers themselves. This isn’t just about silly things like whether or not we have to wait for one more car to pass before we get out of school… this is how real issues happen. I think there is a certain lack of respect for ourselves and one another in today’s society that stems from a lack of parents teaching their kids what is wrong and right and people being afraid to stand up for what they believe in.
I 1000% understand how annoying it is when someone “clogs the hallway.” My largest hallway etiquette pet peeve is similar to this. What gets me is when someone turns around in the middle of the hallway almost causing a head-on collision and then that person acts as if you are in the wrong. It’s like if you were driving, then all of a sudden, the car in front of you makes a sudden illegal u-turn then almost hits you. Obviously the person who almost hits you is in the wrong: they made an illegal turn! In the hallways, this maneuver should be off limits just as it is on the road, but it seems too many people are completely oblivious to their surroundings which, unfortunately, is not illegal. I think a general rule for this school is that everyone needs to be aware of their surroundings and aware of the fact that there are almost 3,000 people who are in the same building as them, but apparently that is too much to ask.