Transit Etiquette
Ever since I started taking public transit, I have said that am going to write a book about the ridiculous things I see. Although I have yet to start this book, a recent experience compelled me to write a blog instead. Yes, I’ve seen people talk to themselves, I’ve seen a gypsy, and I’ve had extremely bizarre conversations with random train riders that involved bike gangs and weekend long drug parties. But what disturbs me most is the simple act (or lack thereof) of transit etiquette.
For example, yesterday I was riding on the GO-Train when two younger women around my age sat across from me. For those of you who don’t know, the seats are set up in sets of four so that two seats face towards the other two seats, so when a person decides to put their feet up, they in fact are placing their feet in the seat beside you. This is what happened to me yesterday and as I looked at the strange pair of feet next to my lap, I noticed streaks of blood on her toes. The girl then goes ahead to wipe the blood with her finger and then apply a band aid…
Another example was also on the GO-train. As I was speaking on the phone I glanced over to seat across from me (this time it was the other group of four seats, not mine thank God) and noticed a woman picking her nose. This was no casual flick of the nostril or small scratch; this was a full on, up to the knuckle, swirl your finger around, nose picking. I was aghast but I could not help but watch this spectacle and how this woman felt so free and open to do this in public. On a third glance, I saw what she was fishing for as she pulled out her finger and a long string of snot stretched about three inches from her nose to her finger. I gagged repeatedly, hung up the phone with who I was talking to in fear of throwing up, and moved seats. The image stuck in my head so fiercely that I gagged for nearly twenty minutes.
A third example, although not gross but equally as rude, is the need people have to ensure their luggage has comfortable seating while people around them are standing. The worst case of this I experienced was at an airport when some young twenty-something pompous man in a suit looked at me while my mom sat down two seats from him and then looked back at his business magazine. His luggage sat cozily in the seat between him and my mom and I took a seat cross-legged on the cold tile floor. Perhaps he just didn’t think to move his luggage for me, so I decided to make it obvious by stating to my mom that I hoped his bags were comfortable because this tile floor was feeling great on my boney ass. This didn’t work either so I sat uncomfortably the rest of the time waiting for our plane, well at least until first class was called and he sauntered off.
Other mishaps of transit etiquette that I have encountered include: spitting on the subway platform, a group of teenage punks running through train carts shouting and playing tag, a woman picking her nose and then grasping the bar on the subway, and silly escalator riders who occupy both the right and left side and who stop at the very top causing everyone behind them to crash into each other.
Sadly, public transit has made me doubt humanity. Is it because riding public transit has become such a thoughtless process in one’s routine that they forget they are in public? Is it because so many people are ill-mannered while on various modes of transportation that it is now the norm to act like barbarians? I mean, you don’t have to act like little Miss. Manners and tell every passerby to have a great day, but at the very least, use a Kleenex.
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3 Comments to Transit Etiquette
Justine,
I share in your horror as I too use public transit in a large city (Vancouver). I’ve had people push me out of the way so they’re not the 2nd person into an empty train car, one night on the way home from Downtown on the Seabus, I witnessed a man so inebriated (see: sh*t faced) that he was throwing up into the giant foam cowboy hat he had been wearing moments earlier. Another favourite of mine is when people use busses as a method to move large boxes that take up the entire aisle so that it’s impossible for anyone to move, and it’s the best when people look at me funny when I give my seat to an elderly person. If transit is an indication of how we as a people are evolving, I’d be most inclined to suggest that we’re regressing socially and becoming more detached from our fellow people and community. Would teleportation solve our problems?
November 19, 2009
It all comes down to what children learn form the “adults” in their life. That’s where they develop these unfortunat habits. Growing up in a city, where they’re taught to disregard “strangers” doesn’t exactly help them later on in life when they should be considerate of others, regardless of whether or not they know them. It was definitely a big culture shock to me when I moved from my cozy little New Brunswick town to a big city in Ontario. It’s been years, and I’m still disappointed on a daily basis, not just by people on public transit, but EVERYWHERE I go. I’m looking forward to my return home, and leaving this pathetic display of humanity behind. No offense.
November 19, 2009
*unfortunate habits…
August 27, 2009