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I had a little drama on the subway today that I want to relate to my DU friends. In person, at least, I'm a nice guy who will turn the other cheek most of the time if someone is rude or unpleasant. Like most people, however, I have my limits. On my way home from work, I took a seat in the middle of an obese man on my left and this late 50's thin woman on my right. Within moments, the woman grabbed my elbow and shoved it and said something about me poking her. Fact is, it was rush hour on the subway, I was trying to occupy as little space as possible but I was thoroughly sandwiched between the gentleman to my left and this woman. A few moments later she shoved my elbow again and told me to stop leaning against her. At that point I looked straight ahead at the windows across from us which, due to the lighting, were turned into virtual mirrors. I noted that I was sitting straight up, elbows in and was not leaning at all. The lady then proceeded to be rude and nasty and talked about having to be on the train for another half hour or hour or something like that. I smiled and said, I'm really doing my best. More rudeness ensued. The man to my left became visibly self conscious and upset because he realized he was taking up 50% of the space that should have comfortably accomodated three people.
At that point, I became mad and a plan hatched in my head. Two stops later what I was waiting for came in. A woman twice my width with an angry expression on her face who was also coughing and sneezing. With a grandiose gesture, I offered my seat to her. The new woman couldnt even manage to say thank you as we switched places, me standing and she sitting. Immediately the two women began jostling with each other for space. The original woman clearly looked unhappy and uncomfortable. Several other passengers, having witnessed the entire drama from the beginning had smiles on their faces when they realized what I had done. Soon my stop arrived, and as I moved toward the exit, I made eye contact with the original woman, smiled and raised one of my eyebrows.
Unspoken message, you were an asshole and this is what you get. Hopefully she will realize she cannot treat people like that and perhaps I have saved the next few folks from dealing with what I dealt with.
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