Rant Wednesdays: Just FRIGGING Move!

Hello Lovely People,

One of my pet peeves serves as the rant this Thurs-WEDNESDAY! Wednesday! It’s totally Wednesday, guys, NOT Thursday! Nope, lies!

Confusing my days aside, this week’s rant: Just FRIGGING Move!!

Every single subway commuter has been there. You’re trying to get to work or school at peak hour, worming your way through the busy bodies at the station and trying not to get coffee spilt on your new jacket. Several trains go by as the crowd slowly thins, and you get closer to the edge of the platform and you chances to get on. Finally, a train comes by that you might actually be able to squeeze onto, buuuut one problem. The people standing by the door of the train won’t frigging move!

You can see the two feet of space behind them. If they take one step back, you can get on. Two steps back, you and several people can get on. Three and I’m pretty sure you, the people and an elephant could fit on that train. But they won’t effing move!

Maybe they have personal space issues. Maybe the guy standing right behind them has really bad B.O. Maybe they’re trying to make that particular area of the train their own personal country and are just waiting for the UN to declare them as a nation before putting up borders. Whatever the reason, they won’t move, and now you have to wait for five more minutes for the next train, making you late and irritable for the rest of the day.

Thanks random person on the train. Thanks a bunch.

You can try all the subtle ways in the book to try and get them to move. There’s the desperate attempt to make eye contact as they studiously avoid it. The clearing of throat, the whistle, the cough (not that it matter they’re probably wearing headphones). Then there’s the most to the point “Could you move please?”. Nope. Still not gonna budge.

My favourite example of this was a few months ago. I was at the busiest skytrain station in the city at 8:30, as per my usual daily routine. I had actually managed to make it onto the train with not much difficulty, and was just accepting the sardine like space when I noticed a girl standing next to me. She was about 17, a cute little Asian girl concentrating on her cellphone game. None of this was particularly noteworthy, except that to her right was 2 feet of space. Another guy was blocking my way to it, otherwise I would have moved into that space to make way for the 20 or so more people trying to cram in. I tried to make eye contact with her

to try and subtly point out the space behind her. No luck. I coughed, whistled, cleared my throat, nope, no game (though I’m pretty sure the guy to my left thought I had the flu). I eventually got over my shyness enough to say “Could you move a bit please?” Still nothing. Maybe English wasn’t her first language, or maybe she just didn’t give a rats ass about the space of the 50 other people crammed in the car.

All this happened in about the space of 10 seconds. The doors of the train were still open, people were still trying to worm their way in. I was slowly being pushed into the girl, she stubbornly not moving despite my body now stuck against hers. As more people filed in I was crushed up against her, accidentally throwing her a bit off balance and into the space behind her. She turned to me slightly, studiously avoiding eye contact, and had the audacity to mutter “No pushing! No pushing!”

Excuse me?!? I didn’t have a friggin choice! You think I like being shoved into you? You think I’m doing this on purpose? NO! No honey, I’m not! If you had just moved two steps to the left, I wouldn’t have had to push you anyways! But no, you couldn’t budge the slightest inch until someone forced you to.

When there are hundreds of people on the same train as you, all grumbling about the morning, all just as annoyed to be shoved up against one another as you are, it is a courtesy to be as nice to them all as possible. And the number one way to do that is SHARE YOUR DAMN SPACE. You’re going to have to move anyways, why not just be polite about it, like a decent person? You’re just going to piss more people off if you don’t.

I understand if you’re having a bad day, or if you have personal space issues or claustrophobia. Being stuck in a small space with strangers is very uncomfortable for many people. But you don’t know what the other people next to you are going through; they could be having the worst day of their lives. Maybe the one thing they want in life is for one tiny stranger to show them the slightest bit of niceness, this being to move for them on a train. It’s not that hard, it should be common sense. Just get over your own issues, move slightly to the left, and go on with your life. Easy. As. That!

Well, that about exhausts this issue for now! Till the next post, keep on smiling!