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The two kinds of subway riders
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In my experience, there are two kinds of subway riders: everyone else and me.
Everyone else does this cute little thing–since they somehow believe it more important for them to get to work than it is for me–where they squeeze into the only available square inch of space in front of me on the subway platform–neverminding the fact that there’s a good chance the train is going to swipe off their ties and/or faces–just to be at the front of the jumble of waiting people. Instead of standing off to the sides of the doors to keep traffic flowing, they wiggle into the space clearly marked on the floor as the area to keep clear for exiting passengers. They insist on being first into the car, even if they’re getting off at the next stop and will therefore have to push past everyone they ran on ahead of in order to exit.
I, on the other hand, do everything I can to avoid being uncomfortable and to avoid creating discomfort for others. I truly believe that I’m alone in this obsessiveness, but I leave my apartment a full thirty minutes before I need to simply to have a more enjoyable (i.e. less confrontational) ride. On the mornings I take the L in from my apartment in Williamsburg, I switch over to the yellow line at Union Square, because it’s almost guaranteed to be nearly empty in comparison to the 4 or 5. Even though it comes less frequently and makes more stops, it’s worth it just to be able to read a book in silence without strange bodies rubbing up against me.
The earlier I leave my boyfriend’s apartment near Grand Central, the less crowded the platform will be, and the less I’ll have to hate everyone who’s standing there with me. Because as everyone knows, the green line trains are legitimately narrower than those on the other lines and therefore lend themselves much more easily to subway rage. I’d always rather wait for the next train than to try to cram myself into an overcrowded one. I’ve actually considered taking the bus across 42nd Street on those mornings just to bypass Grand Central and pick up the yellow line at Times Square, but sadly, I can’t convince myself to get out of bed any earlier.
So, am I right in thinking it’s me against the world, or is anyone else like this?
– Katie Ett, unapologeticallymundane.com
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