Lifestyles of the poor and nameless

Sometimes I think I was born in the wrong country. I should have been British. Even when British people curse, it doesn't sound as vulgar as when Americans curse: "You bloody bastard" v. "You F!@#$# bastard". See what I mean?

My biggest pet peeve amongst Americans in general is how rude we can be. We have no manners. We do whatever we feel, whenever we feel like it, no matter who else will be inconvenienced. We're loud and obnoxious on public transportation. Our men don't give up their seats for pregnant women or the elderly.

I'm reminded of this every morning when I'm getting off the train in Trenton, NJ. There is a long aisle, one person-wide, that runs from one end of the train car to the next. The seats abut the aisle on both sides. There's only one exit in each train car. The ride from Levittown, PA to Trenton, NJ is about 8 minutes. Inevitably, about 3 minutes into the ride, someone will get up from the back of the train and run to stand in front the door, cutting off everyone else in front of them. This starts a chain reaction, since nobody wants to be left behind. Even though I'm usually sitting 2 seats behind the door, if I don't get up, I'll get cut off. That's annoying, but the real problem is what happens when we get off the train.

All those people who raced to train exit will slowly plod to the escalator with their luggage blocking the way of anyone who hoped to pass them. Then they get to the escalator and instead of standing in single file, so that other people can get past them, they stagger themselves, or stand next to each other, so nobody can get by. It's rude, it's inefficient, and it's totally American. Ugh.