41–50 of 107 posts
Did they do this on the weekend? I ride public transit every day of the work week. I see lots of the same people. I don't understand how the answer to the question of "Where are you going?" is not "work" more often.
Many years ago, my friend and I play something we called the N train game. Traveling from Manhattan into Queens, we would guess which stop the white people would get off in Manhattan. Only us "ethnic" white people went into Queens, the rest (American white for lack of a better term) did not. Now all of that is over. Everyone got pushed into the outer boroughs. There is a hipster bar next door to the building I was bo…
This is great. People everywhere I go are incredibly friendly, especially in New York. It's always fun to take a moment, act like a human, and talk to people. Not because you want to sell them anything or buy something, but simply because being social is part of being human. One of the things that bothers me about individual automobile travel is how isolating it is. I want to interact with people and experience local…
> One of the things that bothers me about individual automobile travel is how isolating it is. I want to interact with people and experience local art and culture, of which there is a lot in the NYC subway. We're a communal species. You can make phone calls and listen to local podcasts in a car. You get better exposure to architecture, nature, and automobile design in a car than in an underground train. >I want to in…
You can listen to podcasts and music on a train as well. You can even make phone calls (much to the annoyance of the rest of us). Some of us spend a lot of our train time above ground. Some of the views from the NYC subway in the parts when it's not a subway are fantastic.
The guy who started it quit his job and decided to do something like 1,000 interviews or something like that with no real goal. a portrait of each human and asked the same line of questions but they usually got more personal.
Turned from a website to coffee table books and now makes millions and has a penthouse in the city.
Also lookup New York nico.
Anyway, I sat in the last seat reading a book when, at Chambers St, a large middle-aged white woman sat down next to me and elbowed me in the stomach -- hard. Dude on her right immediately got up, wanting no part of it, and she slid over, taking up both seats, then proceeded to mutter profanity at me. "F'ng a----. Motherf----er." etc etc.
Not even sure why she was mad at me, I guess she wanted more room, but I was on the end and I'm relatively skinny (32" waist, FWIW) so I'm not sure what the beef was. Just crazy, I guess.
Normally I would angrily confront a stranger who just punched me in the stomach and started swearing at me for no good reason but I thought, "Hey, I just resolved a few hours ago to be zen on the subway, am I going to break my new resolution on the first day?"
Fast-forward through the rest of the subway ride, I said and did nothing while she kept muttering profanity (and staring right at me). We got off at the same stop but I grabbed a beverage while she went her way.
Five minutes later I entered the lobby of my office and there she was. She turned around, saw me, and went white. as. a. ghost. I was worried I'd have to call 911.
Turns out she was a contractor who had just started at my company that week, and her direct boss was a good friend of mine.
My friend didn't fire her (right away, anyway) b/c she needed the help and just found the story funny but they did end up terminating her two months later because (surprise surprise) she had an anger problem. They actually waited for her to leave for the day, then called her and told her not to come back in b/c they were afraid of what she'd do in person.
Moral of the story: don't get into commute rage fights. They're not worth it! And you never know who you're getting into a fight with. Be nice to people on the subway.
This is great. People everywhere I go are incredibly friendly, especially in New York. It's always fun to take a moment, act like a human, and talk to people. Not because you want to sell them anything or buy something, but simply because being social is part of being human. One of the things that bothers me about individual automobile travel is how isolating it is. I want to interact with people and experience local…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Ha ha is that how you aspire to feel when you travel in public or how you actually feel? Because it sounds nice but then you try it and you realise many fellow people are unpleasant, annoying or offensive.
It’s obviously a mixed bag (and sometimes dreadful), but IMO it’s a lot more fulfilling to live and travel in the real world among real people than some aseptic Uber-only lifestyle (which many of my friends unfortunately prefer).
Many years ago, my friend and I play something we called the N train game. Traveling from Manhattan into Queens, we would guess which stop the white people would get off in Manhattan. Only us "ethnic" white people went into Queens, the rest (American white for lack of a better term) did not. Now all of that is over. Everyone got pushed into the outer boroughs. There is a hipster bar next door to the building I was bo…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Ha ha is that how you aspire to feel when you travel in public or how you actually feel? Because it sounds nice but then you try it and you realise many fellow people are unpleasant, annoying or offensive.
> unpleasant, annoying or offensive. You define pleasantries, annoyances, and offenses, and that attitude of setting yourself above so many others by default without spending the time to understand their unique human stories is going to cut you out of many fullfilling human experiences. I can only imagine you have a far more difficult life than I, if your world is populated by such annoying characters.