Each and ever Saturday night for the past who knows how long has more or less ended the same exact way: me completely livid and aching to assault a subway employee. And pretty much an entire weekend, though usually the Saturday, which is when I usually am out and about like most people, especially on a day such as today, in which the weather has just been flat out wonderful, is often undermined and flat-out ruined by MTA. But it’s almost always the worst at the very end, when you just want to crawl into your bed.
As silly as it might sound, while in the midst of my aforementioned rage, I often figure that ranting and raving via this space once I get home would at least be a good way to get it out of my system. Yes, I know that sounds awfully like “I’m so mad that I’m going to blog about this!”, which among many other things, sounds incredibly wimpy and retarded, yet bitching on one’s online journal can be a valuable form of catharsis (so long as it’s done somewhat responsibly). But at the end of the night, I usually don’t bother. Why? Well first off, I feel like I’ve bitched about the MTA already countless of times (there’s been more than a few occasions for sure, I really don’t need to check), but most importantly, what’s the point? It’s not like I’ll be saying anything new. Virtually every single New Yorker is well aware of how the MTA has the entire city’s balls in a vice grip, and how they enjoy mercilessly squeezing it for their own selfish amusement and benefit. And I’m fairly certain that I’m not the only one who has to seriously hold back the urge to spit on every single MTA employee they see, because they more than anything else in this city represent commerce, bureaucracy, and people in general at their absolute worst. It’s damn near impossible to not notice the legions of them, all just either standing or sitting around all hours of the day and night, doing absolutely nothing, other than unabashedly not give a flying fuck about their responsibilities to the general public, who are the ones they are supposed to serve and are the primary source of their ridiculous paychecks plus outrageous benefits.
Though a casual glance might make one believe that most subway riders have not noticed any of this nonsense, whereas in reality, most have chosen to ignore it all and simply move on. Mostly because there is once again almost no other option; we all know what the problems are, yet no course of action is truly available. It’s not like our elected government officials, at least the ones on the local level, are ignorant to everyone’s frustrations and aren’t themselves as well. The amount of salt that the MTA generously rubs in the wounds of the city, whose unemployment rate keeps soaring, is now insurmountable, even metaphorically speaking. It’s an issue that cuts across every single demographic in this city (though the poor are the ones to suffer the most from this travesty, sadly), and while I would love to one day see everyone take the to the streets and trash every single worthless Metrocard machine (which usually don’t work anyway) and blow-up every single station (with it employees perhaps still in it), that just ain’t gonna happen, and even in a fantasy world, such crazy actions would accomplish absolutely nothing. So again, what’s the point of bitching and moaning? Seeing a MTA worker act like a complete douchebag is nothing new. Though tonight’s example is a tad bit different…
Katie and myself had just crossed the one-hour mark during our odyssey to get home, from hanging out with friends in Queens (not deep, deep into Queens mind you, just a few measly stops in). Eventually we found ourselves on a D train, with plans to switch to an A at 145th Street. Which normally takes us right to 181st Street, which is our stop, but it’s the weekend and that means getting off at 168 to catch a stupid shuttle bus for the remainder of the trip. Such a headache. Anyway, we had just rolled into 125th Street, Harlem natch, which was just one station away from our next stop. That’s when everyone catches a grumpy old black woman, who was indicative of an MTA employee, but not in full uniform (I would have to assume that she was on-break or something) yelling at some guy.
Apparently, he had just told her to “put a dick in her mouth” and did not take kindly to such advice. Pretty jerky thing to say, I will admit. Dude went into our car, and the woman followed him, with plenty of “Don’t you fucking disrespect me! Don’t you fucking tell me to suck a dick!” Followed by: “I’m gonna call the cops on you!” Once again, I love how subway workers have the same level of protection as cops and teachers, that being if you lay a finger on them, it’s like an automatic seven years in jail or something. With the key difference being that those two groups actually do something to contribute to society. But don’t tell your average subway person this, who all uniformly LOVE to call the cops for all sorts of nonsense, or at least threaten to in any instance to get people off their asses. On the other hand, such laws exist for a reason; once more, I’m not the only one out there who would love nothing more than to set a MTA representative straight. Obviously, it goes without saying that just telling bad things to a person, no matter how unfair they might be, does not constitute a crime. Now, if this guy had tried to do physical harm, the story would be totally different. Though it was crystal clear that his guy had just mouthed off to her, which sucks and all, but whatever, and now this woman was having a total conniption. Plus was going to have justice, no matter what. So she went to the conductor, who was in our car as well, and demanded that he halt operation of the train so he can call the cops for her. So we all just sat there.
Basically, because of one raving egomaniac, the entire system came to a sudden dead halt. What a fucking… And I wasn’t the only person who was non-plussed; soon there was a nice little group of folks telling her to get over herself (with plenty more, all looking on with mouths agape, not believing the scene their eyes). One of the nicest things about NYC is how different folks from different walks of life will often unite for a cause, even if its grounded in total annoyance and outrage. In this case, you had one sassy ghetto chick with her posse and one even sassier gay white guy both imploring her to give it a rest:
“Lady, we want to go home!”
“Oh be quiet. How would you like it if someone said a dick should be in your mouth?!”
“Ma’am, they’re just words!!!” (this dude was SUCH a queen that it was totally awesome)
“You shut the fuck up!”
And so on. Sitting near me, one gentleman’s statement of “I can’t believe we’re not moving because of this nonsense” appeared to speak for everyone, while some another one simply went “oh, the drama.” Most folks had expressions of quiet desperation; it was late and everyone just wanted to get to their homes (which in the case of the D line, meant the Bronx for some, which was still a ways to go). I do believe the gay guy took a picture of the angry woman as she was demanding help from the conductor. Who, as previously noted, wasn’t even in her full uniform, which gives her less incentive to call the police me thinks. In the end, the dude that started it all, along with his friend, both left the train and station I’m guessing, in fears of getting involved with the authorities. Ridiculous. Besides, like any cop would honestly give a rat’s ass. And despite saying a pretty f’d up thing to a woman, hardly anyone held it against the dude.
If the situation was different, like if we were on an A train for example, I would have probably gotten involved in the shouting match as well, but things being what they were, I didn’t (Katie more than anyone is happy about this, without a doubt) and simply sat back to witness the entire trainwreck unfold. I also believe the gay guy took a snapshot, and you bet your ass that I’ll be checking to see if its surfaces anywhere. Anyhow, it took a while, but soon the train was at last moving again. I have to wonder if those folks had not stepped up and voiced themselves, would we have been there for even longer?
Okay, maybe I’m making a mountain out of a molehill, or maybe you just had to be there, but that’s my subway rant for the time being (just had to get it out of my system, otherwise I’d be going to bed pissed off). Expect the next one around the time of the next fare increase. Which is a month from now, right? Jesus Christ…
