An annoying thing happened on my way to Boston

One of my many pet peeves I have when I’m commuting concerns the people that sit with me. I’m early enough on the line that I usually have an inside seat, which I prefer. And most of the time, the person sitting next to me does not bother me. They can be sleeping, reading a book, or just staring off into space; I don’t care. I do care when they are talking on their phone (especially in the morning) or smell like cigarettes, or crowd my space. Recently, I realized there is something else that bothers me: passengers who do not get up when it’s time to get off the train.

When the train pulls into North Station, some people line up so they can get off first. I am not one of these people. I don’t see the point. Saving one to two minutes will not make it or break it for me in terms of getting to work on time.

Anyway, one day a woman sat down next to me after she got onto the train. Well…let me rephrase. When she arrived at my seat, she divided her royal highness' match luggage between the overhead compartment, the aisle and the floor in front of her seat. She folded her coat and placed it on the luggage, unfolded her newspaper, brewed some coffee, had a quick bath and called for room service. OK, not really, but you get the idea. This was a woman with a full agenda and she had yet to take her seat. But, I didn’t think too much of it. We had a half hour to go until Boston.

As we pulled into North Station, she continued reading her paper (the gossip section, I noticed). I already put my book away and was basically ready to stand up when it was time for my seat to file out. (Perhaps she never learned this procedure in grade school?) The train stopped and she was still reading about the Kardashians or Lindsay Lohan’s latest arrest. I didn’t care; it was time for her to start packing up.  If all she had to do was stand up and leave, I wouldn’t even be writing about this, but, she had a lot of stuff to take care of before she got off the train and she wasn’t even moving!  The people sitting in front of me started getting off the train and she just kept on reading! I think at this point I must have cleared my throat or made some kind of movement to indicate that I’d like to get off the train…or that I was about to go for her throat.  I suppose I could have just said excuse me…or GET UP YOU INCONSIDERATE bitch HUMAN BEING!!! She looked at me, sighed, stood up, and moved into the seat in front of me and continued reading. I was putting her out, basically. So, soooooorry to interrupt!!  

It may seem like a little thing.  Something that only delayed me for 30 seconds of my pretty laid-back life.  But, and let this be a warning to you, this is what five years on the MBTA will do to a person. I wasn’t always like this; I used to be a normal, patient-to-a-reasonable-degree person, but now simple situations like this really send me off the deep end! There are many people that stay on the train after it stops (what do I care if someone likes to enjoy their paper in the ambiance of a human cattle car?), but this woman was stealing precious moments of my life!!!  At least let the person on the inside of the seat out so they can get to work or wherever they are going. It’s the same thing as waiting for people to get off the T before you get on or vice versa. It’s just common courtesy with a sprinkle of social awareness.

About one to two weeks after this happened, I was on the train, heading to work, enjoying my book, when I looked up and saw her. Luggage and all. With a look of recognition in her eyes, she sat down next to me.  Some people just suck.