“Old people are dumb” day
If you’ve never taken the LIRR, perhaps you’re not aware of the exiting habit of its passengers: Stand up in the vestibule, and then flood into the aisles no more than one stop previous to your exit.
On the way into the city, I think this unspoken practice makes sense. You want to beat the crowd up the stairs to get the hell to work. But on the way home, who are you trying to compete against? Your all-time best train to car ignition time?
Anyway, this morning, old man river stands up while I’m in the aisle. Thinking to myself that this man is old, may have bravely served our country in yesteryear, or has a faulty bladder, I let him cut ahead of me.
He does NOT say thank you. This (slightenly) angers me.
His briefcase strap gets caught on the armrest of his seat as he walks by, and he continues to be tethered to it, like a dog on a chain who doesn’t get that he’s not going anywhere anytime soon.
So, I be nice, AGAIN, and remove it. He, once again, does not say thank you. I hate him.
In conclusion, don’t help old people on trains. However, when you see a group of 20+ of them in sparkly, snug red and gold uniforms filing down into the subway, you wish you weren’t going to get run over by 8th Avenue traffic to snap a iPhone pic of it for your blog.
