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T etiquette: Subway poles are for grasping with hands, not leaning your nasty-ass back against
By adamg on Mon, 01/29/2018 - 10:49am
Najah snapped photos of a woman on the Green Line at rush hour who tried to use an entire pole to lean against so she could keep her hands free for holding the World's Largest Ice Coffee and keeping up with the day's news on her phone:
Despite multiple people expressing that she was hurting them, this woman couldn’t imagine any way to stop leaning on the pole. A PSA for pole learners: you *can* turn around and hold the pole like everyone else or ask for a seat.
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Comments
I hate this
But that's what elbows are for. Stick your's out, and no pole dancers.
I have actually heard someone say to such a jerkwad "Yo - this ain't your strip club - get off the pole".
I'm a big baby
so I would start yelling "Ow, owwwww! You're hurting my hand! Ow!" in an annoying whiny voice until she moved. If she didn't move, she'd have to listen to me the whole trip. It would be so annoying, that the others holding onto the pole would also be annoyed with me, but oh well. That's how I roll.
Ah Whining
So annoying. And yet so often the only legal middle ground available between tacit agreement and a punch in the eye.
I wouldn't have said anything either
Largely because I'm not suggesting to a woman whom I don't know that she should grab a pole in the age of Harvey Weinstein.
Alpha T rider. Betas gonna
Alpha T rider. Betas gonna hate.
Until alpha rider #1
Steps on their feet while being thrown into them and apologizes passively aggressively because "Oh I'm sorry - I can't reach the pole and got thrown around!"
T
How about the lady loosely looping her arm around the pole and she can corral the pole if needed. She still can use both hands for her coffee & phone then and not be rude and hog the pole with her back.
Or ...
She can get off at the next stop and get back on when she finishes her drink.
Riding Rules
Rule #1: Other people exist in the world besides you. I know it's a big ask, but please conduct yourself accordingly.
Rule #2: Let other people exit the train before you enter, as it's generally impossible for people to walk through you, unless you're a ghost. See Rule #1.
Rule #3: Take your backpack off to make space for other riders. See Rule #1.
Rule #4: Turn the volume of your music/movie/pornography down, i.e. put headphones on. See Rule #1.
Rule #5: Don't lean against the pole, as you're preventing other people from holding on. See Rule #1.
Rule #6: Don't urinate or defecate on the train. See Rule #1.
Rule #7: If you drop or spill something, do your best to pick or clean it up. See Rule #1.
edit for #4
Turn the volume of your music/movie/pornography OFF, or put headphones on and lower the volume. See Rule #1.
agree with all but #3
agree with all but #3
i've tripped over far more bags placed on the floor of the train than i have had blocking me from boarding or deboarding the train.
That can be an issue
And I do realize that people are also concerned about theft - they don't want to put their bag down and have someone run off with it.
That said, people need to be able to apply a little sense. Not all situations are the same. If there's only one other person on the train, and they're way at the far end, then who cares if you lean on a pole? It makes no difference.
Taking a backpack off does not mean, putting it directly in someone else's way so they can't get around you. When in doubt, see Rule #1.
out front
If you swing your backpack to the front, hugging it (one arm still through the strap) you take up less space. You're filling the "comfort space" that is normally empty with your backpack.
"Don't be a pole hog."
http://web.mta.info/nyct/service/CourtesyCounts.htm#DONTBEAPOLEHOG
Sorry, but people's hands are
Sorry, but people's hands are nastier than someone's clothed back. Unless of course they've been rolling in vomit.
Not sure what your comment means
I don't think people are complaining that her back was covered with germs. They're complaining about getting their hands crushed by her leaning on them.
I'm responding to the title
I'm responding to the title of the post. "....nasty-ass back..." Did you miss reading the title?
Yes
I did read the title, but then I applied reading comprehension skills and gathered what people were actually complaining about. See the tweet that started this conversation.
You Monster
Using deductive reasoning and stuff.
Figure of speech...
Do you know what "figure of speech" means?
It doesn't matter. The pole
It doesn't matter. The pole is for multiple people to hold on with their hands, so they don't fall over. Leaning on it prevents other people from holding it.
If you think that's nasty, wash your hands after you ride the T.
Hope you don't get the flu.
Hope you don't get the flu.
You don't get the flu from dirty hands
You get the flu from breathing.
Yes. That's right. Breathing. If a sick person is in your area, they don't even have to be coughing. Just breathing.
Touching things can get you some nice Norovirus, but it DOES NOT put viral particles into your respiratory system. This is an old wives' tale that needs to end. It has never been demonstrated in any scientific fashion - quite the opposite.
More reason why people need to stay the eff home when they are sick.
Latest Research
CDC says...
Wash your hands
https://www.cdc.gov/flu/consumer/three-actions-fight-flu.htm
Seeing where/how she is positioned
I would of faced her, if I could or as much as I could, and reached my arm over the middle of her head to grab the pole above her head so my arm would be up against her face. This would also necessitate that my body be up against hers.
Not sure what would happen but it would be interesting.
I wouldn't bother holding on.
I'm short and can't reach the upper horizontal pole. I'd just surf free and stand such that I would bang into her when the car lurched.
Then I would apologize and explain that its so crowded that I couldn't hold on to anything ...
Or you could say "excuse me".
Or you could say "excuse me". If that didn't work, "I need to hold the pole." If that didn't work, "Please don't lean on the pole. It's keeping me from holding on."
It sounds like, anon
people who had their fingers being squished tried that and it did not work. So, next suggestion?
I have a hard time believing
I have a hard time believing that part of the story.
But if multiple people really did say "Please don't lean on the pole. It's keeping me from holding on," and this person ignored them, I would conclude they have some serious personality problems and I'd move away from them ASAP.
Positioning yourself without holding on so you fall into this person is a good way to hurt yourself, and get into a nasty altercation if they're really as antisocial as they appear.
You know what I have a hard time believing?
I have a very hard time believing that you ever ride the MBTA - at least not at rush hour.
T etiquette?
You'd have a better chance of seeing Nessie swimming around the Harbor or Bigfoot running around Spectacle Island than this.
To paraphrse a quote from a different story today
Perhaps this is evidence that T riders are horrible people and that the Green Line should be shut down and converted to a tunnel for cars.
Green Line for cars?
When I drove rideshare, I always believed that Uber vehicles with multiple passengers should be able to share the B line tracks, since they're providing better service. Heck, at four passengers, it's cheaper than the T if you're not going too far.
Mmmm okay
That would be super effective!
Why not just give the green line its own Storrow Line instead?
I'm not nice
I'm not a nice person on the T. Riding for 20+ years has made me this way.
That woman would have gotten a shove from me if she squished my hand. Or an elbow or something. I do not have time for rude people on the T.
Someone the other day, who had a large backpack on... was standing in front of me (as I was sitting down). Every few minutes he'd smack me in the face with his backpack. I finally pushed him away and said "excuse me" "do you mind" "and take off your backpack"
How did he respond?
Did he take it off?
The problem
with radical intolerance for rude people on the T is that it can quickly make one a rude person on the T. Or, as Tommy Sands puts it, "and another eye for another eye, till everyone is blind."
Subway Etiquette
In the good old days a gentlemen would have offered this lady his seat.
Some people don't want a seat
Regardless, it is not an excuse to make life difficult for other riders who are also standing.
In the good new days, also
I am regularly offered a seat on the Red Line by "gentlemen".
In the "Good" Old Days
Ladies didn't have the right to vote, nor did women. Perhaps you'd like to return to a society based on an outdated, paternalistic view that women need to be "protected" and "taken care of" but many of us believe that women are capable of standing on their own two feet, both literally and figuratively.
Density outranks comfort
When the train is crowded, the first priority has to be for people to pack as densely as possible so as to allow more people to get on. If everyone is at arm's length from the handle, then there's a gap of a foot or two which could have people in it, and that's horrible. (People don't even really need to hold onto the rail if the train is crowded enough, since you don't have enough room to fall. It doesn't quite look that crowded, though.)
The real problem is that the other pictures show that these whole scene is taking place in the area near the entrance, and although it might partially be a perspective trick there seems to be more room near the camera. (Which I think is closer to the bendy area.) Move into the center of the train, damn it. That's rule number one.
Did
She at least have a nice ass? Oh wait, nvm #MeToo
Keys are not just for doors
If my hand was being crushed my house keys might magically appear in my hand, pointed end facing the person's back. When she complained about something sticking her in the back.... Doubt if she would discover anyone cared.
Lordy, just ask politely if
Lordy, just ask politely if the person can move so you can grab the pole. But she’s on her phone, you are on your phone ...