Train Etiquette

2 hours of my life each day is spent on the train commuting to and from work. That equates to 20 days in a year. That's like spending the total amount of my annual leave each year sitting in the trains 24 hours a day. Recently I encountered an extreme bad manners from a fellow commuter - I was sitting happily in my seat reading my papers, when I suddenly felt a blow of air coming from a man standing near me who was coughing. I felt so grossed out that the first thing I did when I entered my home was to step into the bathroom and have a long hot shower. Maybe his mother never taught him to cover his mouth and not to cough into other people's faces?

What about the young women who catches up on life events on the mobile in the train? I really don't need to know about the unreasonable boss at your work and definitely not about your planned weekend pub crawling activities. Eavesdropping is interesting but I'm trying to cut down on things I'm not supposed to do right now.

I really dislike it when people do not know where to put their legs. I don't care where they decide to put it, but not directly pressing against mine, thank you. There was a man yesterday sitting opposite me who pressed his knees against mine even after I've shifted my leg position. Luckily this game of knee tag didn't last long because he got off the next station.

And then there are the starers. The ones who look at you as though you had just stolen their right to eat in this world. I often have no idea what they're looking at on me, and I don't feel right staring back at them so I let it go. But I can feel them staring at everyone in the train with a very angry face.

Last but not least, people with a kiasu attitude when getting on the train. This happens even though it is the first station the train is stopping at, and there are plenty of seats. Invariably these people are Asian ladies. They push me from behind with their umbrellas or poke me with their palms, they push in front of me because I'm not fast enough when I get on the train, and they dash into the train looking for a prime seat. Whichever it is, it definitely won't be next to me because I'll be too slow for them if we happen to get off at the same stop.