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New York, 2:10 AM
Fri Dec 11
60 posts in the last 24 hours
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11/16/09
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11/16/09
I was sitting on the Metro in DC next to a guy who kept his copy of the Post wide open across both seats, even after I sat down. Drove his elbow into my arm and everything. I put my bag down, arm-wrestled with him for a minute, and finally just looked at him. he kept staring at the Post.
I said, "Are you kidding?"
And he folded it into fourths, like a normal human being, and we went on our way.
Even yesterday, on our own fair subway, some dickhead had his lunch bag in the seat cattycorner from him (old 2 train) and didn't move it when I asked. So I sat on it, and he yanked it out from under me.
People know when they're being assholes. It doesn't hurt that I'm 6' tall and 2oo lbs., but they generally understand when their mothers would smack them for doing what they're doing. #manners
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11/16/09
Also, I have lived in lots of places and while "killing people with kindness" may work in some places, some of the time, it doesn't work in New York, where I feel the biggest problem is people yelling and screaming and acting like a fool, right outside your apartment door. Many times, only STFU will do, 95 percent of those times, it doesn't work, either. It took me four years to learn that. #manners
11/16/09
And everyone is talking on the phone at all times, including in the middle of business meetings (which is kind of awesome, actually). There is no time in which it is not okay to answer your phone here.
It's really kind of disgusting. #manners
11/16/09
When I was a student in France I once saw a (I'm guessing) 35 or 40-year-old man berate a little old lady for taking too long at the ATM. I mean, she was a bit slow... but still. #manners
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Why must these assholes talk through the movie that I have paid $12 for? Don't they understand this is not TiVo?There is no effing rewind. [Infrequently -- I can't stand movie theaters for this reason.]
Why is this self-satisfied upper-middle-class mom showing zero compunction that her 10-year-old almost flattened me with his scooter? [Last week.]
Why are people, unencumbered, able, and apparently not English, unable to keep to the right on a narrow stairway? [Frequently.]
Why do men occupying two seats on the subway glare at me when I try to sit down, requiring them to close their legs? Do their balls need a separate seat? [Daily.]
Why did that bike messenger who almost killed me while barreling the wrong way on a one-way street curse me out and keep riding? [Last month.]
Why when I complain am I always the bitch?
11/16/09
We who read your contributions here know that you're not. And just FYI, it's our opinions that count, right? #manners
11/16/09
11/16/09
Thanks. I was being sarcastic. I'm not a bitch, I'm just trying to stay alive.
I have a true terror of being killed by a bike messenger. I have had numerous close shaves. #manners
11/16/09
It is probably a VERY good thing I can;t carry a concealed weapon on an airplane, because I'm damn sure I would have used it by now... #manners
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11/15/09
I used to live on Mount Washington in L.A., which is a hilly residential neighborhood only accessible by extremely narrow two-way roads running along the lip of deep canyons. Going up or down the hill at night, I'd inevitably come across at least 10 a-holes coming at me with the brights on full blast, fucking blinding me in the immediate vicinity of gaping chasms.I've honestly considered flipping a U turn and chasing them to their destination, just to bitch them out. #manners
11/15/09
Or, being Mt. Washington, they could just be shining their brights to scare away the Avenidas members from carjacking them.
(Highland park represent! Send me a message if you're around and I'll take you out for a drink) #manners
11/16/09
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11/16/09
Speaking of which, I recall a nite-time driving marathon to Las Vegas from LA on that godforsaken Interstate I-15 highway. Desert on the right, desert on the left. No lights whatsoever. Gas stops are 45 miles in between, or more. It's like driving on Mars. It's enormously difficult to negotiate that 4-hour stretch in the dark as it is, but bitch-ass bitches tailgating you on the highway with the high beams on adds to the stress like nobody's business. I admit that I was sincerely praying for my life during those whole 4 hours it took me to drive from LA to Vegas.
I know peeps are like, "Oh, we'll beat the traffic and drive to Vegas at nite!" Do yourself a favor and don't.
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p.s., nothing says reckless [depraved] indifference to human life flashing six 300 Watt halogen bulbs into oncoming traffic on a long and winding road overlooking the bluffs of LA.
pps in NJ, the motor vehicle code mandates you leave them covered while "on road" #manners
11/16/09
That said, maybe we need three degrees of lights at this point: city, highway, and country. #manners
11/16/09
I've meet girls who land at LAX from London, rent a car (opposite side traffic), drive to LV, arrive around midnight and report: No, I'm not that tired, the last part of the trip was pure serenity. Let's have drink.
If you get tailgated there you probably are one of the "55 mph on the leftmost lane no matter what's the traffic" ass-wizards. #manners
11/16/09
11/15/09
The subway, the bus, on the road, the elevator, the local Starbucks, etc.
When so many are facing foreclosure, living on $430 a week, and being beaten down by all of the fees every entity around us is trying to impose on us (overdraft fees, red light cameras, once late on yor Shell bill, parking tickets, inside wire maintenance, excise taxes, a whole bunch of up your ass taxes) how can youexpect anyone walking around our mean streets to show some decorum? I mean really.
The taxi's aim for the pedestrians as if the roads exist solely for them, everyone has an attitude, a nasty expression on their face (just check out some of the expressions as they go by) and a "f-ck you" is never fsr from being uttered to a total stranger. It is all out savagery, and it's here to stay. Everyone is angry at life, everyone else, their situations in life, the government, the boss, their neighbor, etc. It's a hate fest and you know it!!!
11/16/09
Get over it; act like an adult and show some manners. Your problems are no excuse to be rude to anyone else.
I dread the next generation. The selfish people who grew-up in the 80s and 90s are going top breed the "Rudest Generation." #manners
11/15/09
I use this story often as an example of why I should never be allowed to carry a gun. #manners
11/15/09
My guess is that it will also at least temporarily solve financial problems at NY transport authority. #manners