I’ve mentioned plenty of pet peeves on this blog and unfortunately, I never seem to run out of new ones to write about. This pet peeve I have isn’t really new, it’s been bothering me for months now.
In any major city with a public train or subway system, there’s an etiquette to how to board a train when people are trying to get off the train. Ideally, if you’re a decent human being, the people trying to get onto a train or subway car wait for the people to get out of the car before boarding the train. In reality, very few people adhere to this nicety. A lot of people who want to get onto the train just stand right in front the doors. As soon as the doors open, they rush in, no caring that’s there’s people trying to get out. What a bunch of dumbasses.
When I moved to my new apartment, I started taking the rapid public transit system here in Vancouver much more frequently. At first, I’d try to turn my body sideways to let these idiots by me without physical contact. Then as the weeks went by, I decided I wasn’t going change my ways just to accommodate these failures of society. I had the right of way, so I should be able to walk normally out of the train and onto the platform. So that’s when I started to just walk straight out of the train. If there’s was someone, anyone in my way, we’d be making contact.
It was actually pretty interesting at first. People saw that I was serious about getting off the train and they’d get out of my way (as they should). For those who were still being morons, you’d get my shoulder in your body. I didn’t bodycheck anyone or anything, that would be going too far, but I certainly did make it known you were blocking my way and everyone else’s trying to get off the train. One time, this middle-aged lady just stepped right in front of me as I took my first step off the train. We made some serious shoulder to shoulder contact that even surprised me. I kept on walking though because she had it coming. Other times, there are varying degrees of contact. I might just brush lightly by someone or I might bump into a person enough to make them notice.
Am I a dick for doing this? Hell no. I don’t smack into kids or people with handicaps. I reserve my retributions for those who were asking for it. It’s really not hard to be a good commuter. Just stand to the side of the door. A lot of people get that. I pass these people all the time without incident. While I’m bumping into the boogers of the transit system, the good ones slip in behind me and get onto the train first.
I’m going on a tangent here but don’t even get me started about the time I was the only person to offer their seat to a pregnant woman on Skytrain. She was visibly showing without any doubt. I was sitting four rows from where she was standing and I was on the inside seat. I had to turn to the guy in the aisle seat, ask him to move so I could get out, and then walked over to the mother-to-be. I offered my seat to her. The stupid thing was, I actually had to shoot a look over to my former seatmate to get him to slide his ass over so that the pregnant lady could sit in the aisle. I spent the rest of that trip making eye contact with everyone around me so I could pass judgment on them for not giving up a seat for a pregnant woman.
I could continue but I’m getting all worked up. I’m going to put in my retainer and watch some Hee-Haw now.
I had a laugh reading this because people do exactly the same thing while getting on to the MTR in Hong Kong–It used to drive us demented. I recommend not only bashing your way through the crowd but also sticking out a set of “chicken wings” just to get the message across. That said, you will never change these people—they will always be morons—but at least you will get out of the train quicker.
It doesn’t surprise me that this happens elsewhere in the world. Morons transcend boundaries of any type.
I don’t think I could do the “chicken wing”, that might seem inflammatory.
hey, if you can’t beat the numbskullery, you may as well join in.
In Singapore, the transit system has advertisements on how to be courteous. One of the bullet points right under “give up your seat to the elderly/pregnant” is “don’t pretend to be asleep!”
I applaud what you are doing. More people should do that, just to prove a point, and get everybody back on track.
I too applaud your actions Erwin. Did you know in Japan they have painted lines on the train platform where people form orderly queues to board the train once it is convenient to do so?
Nothing to do with public transport but I also get peeved when 3+ people are walking side by side on the footpath coming towards me, and none of them move to allow me to pass (this is especially a problem with high school kids btw).