Crowd management and eye contact

There's more to it than you might think...though chances are, you don't think about it.

After my year in Spain back in 2006, I remembered that negotiating crowds of Spanish people was quite different from doing the same in Britain, but I'd forgotten to what extent...

In Britain, even though we're apparently more closed and less likely to initiate interaction with other people than our continental European brethren, it's habitual to make eye contact with the people coming towards you, the people you will have to negotiate to continue on your chosen path (see fig. 1.1). This can frequently result in a ridiculous kind of dance where both people, trying to double guess the other, move to one side and the other, both in the same direction, at the same time, several times, before finally managing to pass each other. Ridiculous though it can be, it is a polite and courteous means of crowd negotiation...but time consuming and confusing when the number of people is higher. This method also purveys a sense of openness and welcome.

In Spain, there's none of this crazy eye contact malarky when negotiating crowds, ohhh no. That is reserved exclusively for checking out the hot chick walking past the newspaper stand. Nope, in Spain, and in the absence of said hot girl, the focus is always on where you want to get to - eyes dead ahead, focus on middle distance, look of intensity but slight vagueness - see fig. 1.2 below.


This method, while not as courteous or friendly as the UK method, is far more effective, as everyone else likewise focuses on their destination, so there's very rarely any confusion or dance issue. Indeed, the only time confusion is likely to arise is if you put an untrained Brit on the scene, and he or she attempts to make eye contacts with each Spaniard encountered. The usual result then is that the Spaniard simply walks into them.

While sounding simple, there is an elegant art to perfecting the Spanish method, as you must remain focused on your destination at all times, while at the same time also being aware of the people approaching your path, but not making eye contact, in order to be able to pass without contact. In general, when two people are walking directly towards each other, they will continue to do so right until the last minute, with no hint of moving out of the way or allowing passage. Right when it seems inevitable the two are to crash into each other, each pulls a slight shoulder twist to one side or the other (you get a sense for which side it's going - this is an instinct here, not something you stop to think about!), and thus manage to pass with milimetres to spare, barely moving from the original path, and never breaking step or slowing down. And of course, if you do choose to check out the fine lady, it's not a problem, because the huge guy bearing down on you wasn't actually looking at you anyway, so he'll just go straight on past. Unless she's his girlfriend. In which case you might want to move.

One obvious drawback to the Spanish method is that if the person approaching is someone you know, you may end up walking straight on past, and looking like a tool for doing so...