Yesterday, Sunday, I was supposed to lead people on a walk on two consecutive stages of the Wuppertaler Rundweg - the walk that goes right around Wuppertal.
Walk 1 was only 9 to 10 km long, so I added another stage of about 14.5 km on to it. The second walk had the option of stopping off at a nice cafe about halfway through.
As usual, we finally made it to where the walk started and got off the bus. I gave my little pep talk including this bit: "If you need to disappear behind a bush for a while, please let me know. We will then walk on a little bit and then stop and wait for you."
I also said that they should keep together all the time so that no-one gets lost. Maybe I shouldn't have told them, however, that we were only following one sign: the W in a circle (symbolising the Wuppertaler Rundweg).
The countryside from Sudberg to Wahlert was utterly delightful. So green, so many trees, fields, cute houses. Utterly idyllic. There were 15 walkers and me. Six of the walkers were completely new to me.
We had a break after an hour so we could drink something or disappear behind a bush. Then we carried on. About 20 minutes later, someone (Maria, a retired nurse from Croatia) said she had to powder her nose behind a bush and I told the rest of the group members to wait.
It took some time. Maria later said that where she had gone had another path there and lots of cyclists went by so she had had to wait.
In the meantime, 11 of the walkers just walked off. Leaving me, Egon (who also offers walks) and two of the newcomers behind, politely waiting for Maria.
I was FURIOUS. Not only had they ignored my instruction of waiting for Maria, they seemed not to have read the walking rules on the group's website - especially the one that says "Don't walk too far ahead or too far behind; always remain within sight."
When the five of us finally got going, it took us ages to find the others again. They had stopped and were waiting for us. Why they couldn't have waited with the rest of us, God only knows.
That was when I decided that I had had enough. I told them that I was going to break off after the first short walk as they obviously didn't regard me as the walking guide. As soon as we got to the bus stop in Wahlert, I and three others got on the bus and went home, leaving 12 to carry on. Unfortunately, Egon had a walking map with him and he took over the responsibility. He really shouldn't have rewarded those bastards' bad behaviour in such a way. They did not deserve to have someone help them find the way when they had ignored me in the first place.
Well, that's at least 20 days a year that I get back as free time. I always planned to offer 12 Saturday afternoon walks and 8 all-day Sunday walks a year. On top of that, you have to add a day or two for Vorwanderungen, trials of new walks, and all the poring over maps, the marking out of the route, the checking of the route on Google maps, the reading up of the information in books and the checking of public transport connections, writing everything up to send to the coordinator who passes it on to the website owner who then uploads everything.
If the walkers cannot respect my efforts enough to do what I tell them and stick together, thinking they can wander off by themselves and leave me behind, then fine. They can do what they want. I won't give them another chance to disrespect me.
People often say that young people of today have no manners. Well, it seems that people in their 30s to 70s don't know any better either. I've read articles in the press stating that owing to lockdowns, people have forgotten how to behave politely. After yesterday, I'm inclined to agree with that sentiment. I refuse to reward bad manners.
Well done. Do not suffer fools gladly. Don't let them steal your time. You had balls to do that.
ReplyDeleteI did warn them that I had slept badly and was nervous. My temper was too short to tolerate such insubordination.
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