subway

I take the subway to and from work.



It's great because there's a subway station 30 seconds from my house, and there's a subway station 5 minutes from my school.

What's not great is that I have to ride it with other people. Now I've just had the idea of a personal subway, and man, isn't that great? A personal subway! Figure out how to do that and you'll be a rich, rich person.

See, the thing with other people is that they can be rude and obnoxious, and the thing with me is that I am highly susceptible to rude and obnoxious behavior. Maybe finicky is a good word for me. Minor things can annoy the hell out of me. Big things can make me apoplectic. I pretty much spend subway rides daydreaming of the different ways I'd kick the various people who bother me.

The story that this post relates to concerns a minor thing.

A few days ago I was on the subway heading to work. My train car was about half full, so I sat down. At the end of my row of seats were three elderly-ish ladies, who had been out doing some shopping or just shooting the shit doing whatever it is elderly-ish Korean ladies do. Across from me was a middle aged guy reading a pamphlet of some kind.

The ladies were talking during our journey together, perhaps a bit loudly. However, even for me, a fellow as finicky as they come, I wasn't too put out by them. Sure, I noticed their loudness, but I was neither stewing nor steaming because of it.

However, suddenly, the guy who was reading a pamphlet shouted, and I mean shouted, in Korean of course, "Ladies, you're very noisy! Be quiet!"

I was startled. I think everyone on the train was startled, especially the elderly-ish ladies. Nobody on the train said anything, and the ladies got very quiet for a while. It was awkward.

Looking back, I don't wish I'd said something to the guy, to defend the ladies, because while I am capable of expressing myself in Korean in that situation, I'm not confident in my ability to express myself in Korean in a heated situation. But I wish someone else had stuck up for those ladies.

I guess my point is that in the past, if there was someone being loud and obnoxious on the train, I always wished someone would tell them to shut up. But then when it happened, it happened to 3 little old-ish ladies. And it made me feel bad.

Also, the guy who did the yelling, he had taken his shoes off, he just had his socks on while he was on the subway. That, to me, is much more egregious than talking slightly too loud.