Scenes from my morning on the beautiful NYC subway:
1:
A subway ad? Come on, Trent, are you really that desperate for fans that you have to advertise next to light beer and divorce attorneys? It’s only a matter of time ’til it gets slapped with a “Lose Weight Now!” sticker, and I want to be there to see it when it does.
2: An 8-10 year-old girl and her overweight mother enter the train and stand next to me. They are facing each other, so that the girl is facing me and the mother has her back to me. The girl is holding on the the center pole, and the mother isn’t holding on to anything — every time the train lurches, she falls backwards and topples into me. After this happens a few times, she eventually does it again, and drops her book. A man sitting next to her picks it up and hands it to her. She mumbles a “sorry” and “thanks” to him, and this conversation ensues:
Little Girl: “But you didn’t say ‘I’m sorry’”!
Mother: “Yes I did.”
Little Girl: “No you didn’t. Not to that man right there!” [pointing at me]
The half-assed, coerced “sorry” from the mother meant nothing to me. But the little girl, remembering the lessons in politeness we’re all taught as children but find so easy to forget as adults, made my day.