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Chivalry dead on the Red Line
By adamg on Fri, 12/02/2011 - 8:38am
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Comments
Damn, this person has a chip
Damn, this person has a chip on their shoulder!
Which person? The person who
Which person? The person who saw and blogged the incident, the woman who didn't get the seat, or the paint-covered guy who DID get the seat?
Well, bitter is in the name of the blogsite
Yes, bitter and snarky from reading the other entries. Not necessarily a source of clarity when detailing the chronicles of commuting on the T.
Probably on the Red Line
If it was between Park and DTX.
Red not Green
Yep, that's the Red Line, not Green.
Gah, I think I need a nap
Fixed.
Subway Etiquette
1) The poles are for support not dancing
2) Seats are for sitting not sleeping
3) Spitting is taboo
4) When school kids get on its best for adults to get off
5) Smoking is not allowed even when you buy your smokes at the T's stores
6) You are supposed to pay your fare on the Green Line but if you get caught tell them your name is John Doe
7) South station sinks are for washing your hands not bathing
8) Rest rooms are not sex clubs
9) Commuter rail trains are set up for two passengers not one with bundles
10) Please leave your Knives,guns,brass knuckles and machetes at home
Chivalry versus Courtesy
I'm quick to grab a seat if I see one ... but I'm also quick to offer up and give that seat up to whomever may appear to need it, be they elderly, pregnant, wrangling a small child, looking exhausted or in pain, having balance issues, etc. Aside from pregnancy, this goes for male or female passengers.
I don't expect to be handed a seat just because I'm female and I have politely declined seating offers in the past. (although I did effectively shame a young man in a suit into giving up his seat when I was heavily pregnant and offered mine to an elderly person struggling to stay upright as the train lurched ...)
I don't worry that chivalry is dead - but a little gender-neutral courtesy won't kill you!
For once I agree with SG. I
For once I agree with SG. I do not think that in this time men are supposed to give their seat up for women (although I am pleasantly surprised if they do), but some courtesy would be great.
I do not know if I can say this, but this also applies to passengers slightly (or a lot) bigger than average. It happens often that the person coming to sit next to me needs 1.5 seat, or more. If you do not fit, do not attempt to make it fit! I once sat happily in the orange line, with nobody next to me on either side, until at North Station two heavyset men entered. One came to sit next to me, and then the other.... a policeman-, decided to take the seat on the other side. Luckily I am average, and not some cute fragile tiny woman, because then I certainly would have been crushed! Sitting became impossible however, and I was forced to give them both their required 1.5 seat, to the amusement of some other passengers.
My mama raised me better than that
I always give up a seat to a woman. I also call all women I meet in the course of a day Ma'am. It's a sad state of affairs that I'm mistaken for being in the military because I treat women with the same respect I'd like people to extend to my mother.
Whereas your father is on his
Whereas your father is on his own.
My Dad would be so beat
after a 12 hour shift in the cab, he literally would fall asleep standing up on the Blue Line. No seat needed.
What about elevators
I usually wouldn't give up my seat for a woman who isn't pregnant or elderly, but if we're both heading for the same seat I'll usually let her take it. Getting up and making her sit down strikes me as a little creepy, like the guy who brings flowers to a first date.
I was taught it's proper to let women exit an elevator first. But it seems like women my age (20s) don't expect this and even look at me weird for letting them out first. I think part of it is younger women aren't used to guys being nice just for the sake of being nice instead of looking for something in return. Especially in this city where eye contact with strangers is prohibited in all but the most dire circumstances and a smile basically equates to a marriage proposal.
logistics vs. chivalry
as a 44-year old woman who works in a large office building, it drives me nuts when men who are closer to the front of the elevator stand back for me to get out first. I don't see it as a matter of chivalry, just logistics -- if you're closer to the door, you get out first.
FIFO
Must be a CPA
Guess I'm the bad guy.
If I'm going one or two stops, I never sit down. But if I'm going home after a long day of work, and I have 10 stops, you're darn right I'm gonna do everything to get a seat. Nudge people (incl. women) out of the way at the train door so I'm first on to grab a seat? Yup. I'm not going to push, but I will gently nudge and push with my shoulder to get around. I've even taken the Red Line back to Harvard to get a seat to Fields Corner. That's life in the city, folks.