Transit Woes

I use to feel so smug about taking transit.  I had it all figured out.  There's no sitting in traffic on a train.  I'm polluting far less than most.  It's cheaper than a vehicle(barely).  I can sit back, relax, listen to music and be driven to whatever destination of whimsy I so choose on any given day.  Somewhere, somehow that's all changed.  Now everyday is a nightmarish torment of epic and absurd proportions.

On my to work this eve, rockin' the headphones and gazing out the window at the gorgeous summer day.  The river below and the trees doin' there thing, this greasy white dude sits down beside me.  He hits me with his newspaper which was troublesome yet tolerable as one must learn to stomach the ignorance and ineptitude of others while travelling.  I stood up as the train was stopped to open the window as the train was quite warm and I do not enjoy breathing in recycled air nor the pits of grease fuck beside me.  As soon as I place myself back on the seat, he promptly stands, slams the window and sits staring at me...waiting for a response.  Not one to back down from quelching idiocy, I removed my headphones and looked him square in the eye.  "I needed some air," I said point of factly.

He positions himself two inches from my reddening face and spits, "This is an air conditioned car, can't you READ?"  The signs on the window are very clear and I'm sure Translink totally pays for air conditioned cars while they're trying to fill their coffers with another tax to pay for the shit they're building which they can't afford.

"That was rude," I spoke with, I'll admit, a little shock that this man was getting ready for battle over an open window on a train with someone half his age and size.

"It was RUDE of YOU to open it in the first place!"

I didn't know what to say.  As much as I practice keeping cool and speaking with intellect...this guy had me totally rattled.  I just kept wondering what kind of a day he must of had.  Or if he's like this all of the time; Stirring up shit out of boredom or some empty sense of self righteousness.  I thought of all the things I could have said like bringing up the fact that his body odor was the reason I required the oxygen, or asked him as I would a child if he was having a bad day?  Or maybe the only language people like that understand is to give back ten fold what they've dished out.  I watch dogs a lot and the only way to subdue an aggressive or inappropriate puppy act, the other puppy lays it out clean and clear.  Woof!  Cut it out.  Or, failing that, a little nip on the neck to show business is meant.  All of these things went though my head...in the meantime, he got off at the next stop and for three hours following this utter oddness, I though about what the course of action I'll take in the future.  I mean, he wasn't even on the train long enough to feel a breeze from the window, yet he still had to make a scene and prove something to the rest of the passengers.  I just wanted to be free of stinky breath filled train and angry greasy pit man.  Have we lost all sense of being able to accommodate and relate to one another?  Are we so entitled and set in what we want that in any given moment if someone infringes on that even slightly we must make a stand and return things to what we thought was what we needed.  I bet he would have enjoyed the fresh breeze coming in though the tiny train window slit, had he been there longer than a single stop.  Perhaps this lesson is to be open to others' needs no matter how small they may seem to you.  Maybe I had completely unbalanced his equilibrium with the world by the ever so small change in barometric pressure that his brain screamed and he had no control.  Or maybe he's just a grease lizard with hate in his heart and poison in his armpits.  In the future people, I beg you, ask those around you what they want.  Cast a ballot on if the window opens or remains shut and after you've tallied the votes and made certain that the train is in consensus, let me know how that breeze of democracy and sanity feels once you've arrived cuz by the time all that shit's been dealt with, you'll be where you needed to go.  I'm buying a car...fuck the planet.