Tuesday, May 25, 2010

Who Does That?

I was reading an article in the New York Times this morning about some New York City bus drivers who are taking extended leaves of absence because they're being abused by disgruntled public transport users. Now I’m not talking about yelling, arm waving, eye rolling, frothing at the mouth, heavy sighing, foot stomping or any of the other displays of anger that I myself am guilty of committing. As I wrote last week, we are one angry city. But this new phenomenon is worse. It’s spitting.

I know this isn’t very eloquent of me, but all I can say is EWWWWAAA. Seriously? Who does that? Spitting has to be one of the most vile things a person can do. Already, far too many people hawk it up in public, spitting on the sidewalk and forcing pedestrians to dodge not only ubiquitous dog droppings, but their germafied spittle as well, or on the train tracks where they cough up their cigarette-induced morning phlegm. Some do it discreetly and quietly into a tissue (t.g.), while others feel the need to really crank it up with an accompanying rumbling gurgle that makes me wanna puke. FYI: use the bathroom and do it out of earshot, people, not on the train next to me.

But this is worse than the semi-innocent and seemingly necessary part of life that is clearing one’s throat and expectorating. To actually launch your unwanted bodily fluids at someone else is just lame. And it spreads illness…nobody wants your swine flu or tuberculosis, mmmkay?

In the article, Nancy Shevell, the chairwoman of the authority’s bus committee, suggests that going home and taking a nap might help solve the drivers’ post-traumatic stress of being spit on, and that leaves of absence may be excessive. Sorry, sleeping it off doesn't cure being spitballed. It's not just a matter of brushing it off and going on your merry way. It’s humiliating, gross, dirty and unnecessary. For someone who goes to work every day and has to haul around all of New York’s demanding, irritating, and now rabid, commuters, I too think I’d say why the flying F should I go to work today and put up with this shi-at? I can just imagine angry authors coming in to my journal and spitting on me because I put an en dash in place of a hyphen.

The article also had some interesting insight. Apparently all this time I was writing angry posts about commuting, I didn’t realize that I was suffering from a syndrome called “Aisle Rage,” which Alan E. Pisarski writes about in his report “Commuting in America.” I feel so much better that it's an actual condition and that I'm not alone.

While I can certainly understand the annoyance evoked by declining mass transit and increased costs, drivers are not to blame, and can’t be anywhere near as horrible as us passengers, so we’d do better to show a little more appreciation. Let’s grow up a little, and keep our saliva to ourselves.

4 comments:

  1. Ooooh, boy, I can't stand public spitting. It's SO disgusting and germ-spreading (why the resurgence of TB in Spain, I WONDER?!). Plus, spitting AT someone should be grounds for arrest. It's an attack on a person! Violent! Heinous! etc. etc.

    So you feel safe, Amy, there are very clear rules that dictate when to use an en dash vs. a hyphen and if any author goes saliva-postal on you for ever changing one for another, you send them to me (punctuation police) to sort them out. Or, maybe let me read the original first, just in case.

    I leave you with some quotes from the literature, seeing as I'm falling asleep at my desk post-lunch yet again and am not feeling very clever.

    "Hi, I'm Amy, and I'm an Aisle Rager." [Amy MC at her first ARA meeting]

    "Spitting's a dirty habit." [Violet Beauregarde, from "Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory", whilst digging around in her nostril]

    "I'm sorry, Chris, but if you clip your nails at your desk one more time, I'm going to bring in a razor and just shave my armpits here at my desk. For godssake, go to the bathroom if you must do personal grooming during work hours." [Jana Lia to a coworker, circa 1997]

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  2. Hmm. I always thought when a girl spit at me it was just her way of telling me that she wants to make out with me sooo badly that she is going to preemptively offer me her saliva. No? So weird.

    Honestly, people who spit on other people are just plain pitiful. Like how low can you really get. It should be considered a punishable crime. Although, I give a pass to Pumpkin for Spitting on New York on Flava of Love. That was pretty epic.

    Also, if you need to take a nap to cope with being spit on, extend that nap. Permanently. Don't bother waking up because you are pathetic.

    Finally, what does it say about me that I sound really mean when I'm actually in an incredibly good mood??? :X

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  3. Camels get a bad name for spitting, and they probably DON'T know better....unlike those of the human species that should.

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  4. Spitting is so disgusting. I don't know how people don't see that, they'll just hack one up right in front of you. I work at a prison and there are some rules posted on the door right outside the building. First rule "NO SPITTING" when I saw that... Yahooo. One of the rules that my kids grew up with was 'never, ever, ever put your shoes on the table. That was a rule because we are forced to walk through peoples spit and dogs #@%^^. I mean even if the stuff is picked up it's not CLEANED up.

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