Manners battle

[firstfrost]

This morning, I was standing on the T, when a guy talking to his girlfriend decided to drop his newspaper (one of the little free Boston Metros, not a complicated heavy one) on the floor. After a few minutes of being vaguely irritated at him, I picked it up and handed it to him. "I think you dropped this, sir?" He gave me a dirty look, and took it. Then a few minutes later, he dropped it again. I picked it up for him again.

"Sir, you seem to be having some trouble with your paper."
"I dropped it, I'm sorry."
"I know. Here you go. There are trash cans in all the stations outside the train."
"Well, I'll throw it out there, then."
"Good."
"But until then, I'll leave it on the floor."

At this point, his girlfriend took the paper. I'm honestly not sure where I would have gone from there. Most people who I hand their trash to have the decency to be a little embarassed and throw it away later. And most people have the instinct to take something that's been handed to them, but he had clearly overcome his instinct by the second time.

I wonder if he talked her into dropping it on the floor again once I had gotten off the train.

Comments

[chanaleh.livejournal.com]

You have way more patience than I. I always have the impulse to yell after them "Don't drop your trash on the ground, asshole!", and then stifle it and don't say anything at all. I think your approach is commendable.

[firstfrost.livejournal.com]

I almost never do anything immediately - my reaction to anything that discomfits me is to freeze rather than attack. But the idea of waiting five minutes and then shouting "Don't drop your trash on the ground, asshole!" is kind of hilarious to imagine, though, as then I become the Random Crazy Shouty person. :)

(Twenty years (oh my god, it really has been almost twenty years...) of working in customer support has given me lots of practice towards being polite to difficult people. Though it does not stop me from ranting about them to mjperson at lunch. :) )

[chanaleh.livejournal.com]

Au contraire, ranting at lunch is what keeps you able to be polite when you get back to your desk!