Adventures on public transport

I am a firm believer that good people come in all shapes and sizes from every corner of the world. Likewise, the opposite is true. On my way home from grocery shopping I was witness to the most infuriating argument! It all started over a seat on the bus and escalated so quickly in so many directions I thought there would be punches thrown. Here's the set-up: At Putney, two women got on the bus with baby buggies. The buggues were both quite large and there wasn't really room for them both in the area the way they were arranged. Woman 1 parked her buggy lengthwise. Woman 2 parked her buggy athwartbus and went to sit at the back of the bus, completely out of sight of the buggy, promptly pulled out her phone and began texting. This left 2 unoccupied seats being blocked (mostly) by the buggy. I could have sat there if I didn't have groceries, but nobody larger or tall would have been comfortable. A quick shift of both buggies would have left room for both women to sit with their children. We travel like this for a few stops, then the following occurs.


[ENTER Arab Man and Obese Man]

ARAB MAN walks to the middle of the bus carrying a large folding wooden table and a large duffle bag. He sets the duffle bag onto the two unoccupied seats behind the baby buggy. He lets the table legthwise along the aisle. Remains standing.

OBESE MAN walks to the middle of the bus and stands directly behind me, panting quite loud. It is clear that he hasn't the ability to climb the stairs and would very much like to sit. He remains standing in the center of the bus. Glances at ARAB MAN

OM: Oy- what's all that then?

AM: (at elevated volume, near shouting. Thick London accent) Wot? You couldn't sit there! I'm not blocking anybody. You couldn't sit there!

OM: People could sit there, what are you doing with all this stuff all over?

AM: YOU COULDN"T SIT THERE!

OM: Somebody could sit there if you hadn't blocked it all in!

AM: IT WAS ALREADY BLOCKED! LOOK AT YOU! YOU COULDN"T SIT THERE!

OM: All the sa—

AM: (interjects) You wouldn't have said anything if I was a white man! You're only on me because I'm an Arab!

OM: If that's the case then why don't you go back to your own country!

AM: I would if you would get out of it!

OM: You wouldn't even be alive if we hadn't won the war with Germany!

AM: You mean the war over which LANGUAGE would be the official Language of the New World Order? You're in my country killing my people because you wanted the world to speak English!

OM: I've fought for my Queen and Country in—

AM: You fight for PEOPLE?! What did that ever bring us? The Illuminati controls the money and the white man follows along like sheep. You're an old man! I fight for God!

OM: And what a god he is, too, asking for innocent blood!

AM: I'm a MILLIONAIRE in Bagdad! Learn your history you racist white cow!

OM: GET OFF THE BUS and go back to Arabia if its so great!

ARAB MAN gathers up his bag and table and gets off the bus, ramming into me on his way out with the sharp edge of his table, nearly knocking me over and bruising my calf. He is still shouting about Nazis, the Illuminati, and the oppression of the White Man.

OBESE MAN looks at me as I stagger back to standing, nursing my dead leg. He remains standing.

OM: (looking at me) Well, you started it. EXEUNT STAGE LEFT

END SCENE

After the two men exited the bus there was some mild chatter, mostly saying how it was so completely uncalled for. Both men were totally out of line. Nobody mentioned the young mother who blocked the seats with her buggy then went and sat at the back of the bus. Two stops later she got up from her seat at the back and sat next to her baby with plenty of room for the other buggy and mother to sit down. It took 3 seconds to turn the buggies so both women could sit comfortably.

I don't care if you are white, black, asian, latino, muslim, jewish, christian, buddhist, wiccan, atheist, from Guam or UAE or China or Brazil or France, just don't be an Asshat! Both these men embarrassed themselves and made an entire bus of mostly women very uncomfortable with their arrogance, ignorance, and irrational fear/hate of eachother.