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Here’s the thing, the common wisdom isn’t as common as you may expect. Or as common as it should be! The basic fact is that while we’re out in public, we’re not alone and must respect others. We know, we know, some of you Pandas are laughing and saying, “That’s what the word ‘public’ implies, doofus.” It’s a no-brainer. But, honestly, how evident is it?
When you take public transportation, whether it’s the subway (aka the metro, aka the tube), a triple-decker bus, or a giant communal skateboard, you expect people to behave in a certain way. At the end of the day, even if you expect odd behavior on public transit, all you want is to be safe. The guy dressed as a genuine clown at the window might be the most pleasant person in town, while the sharply dressed fellow sitting over there could be the rudest, most infuriating person you’ve ever met. Bored Panda has gathered evidence that some passengers have no idea how to behave on public transportation and should severely reconsider their life ideals. Scroll down for the worst of the worst, upvote the images that made you go ‘ew!’ and ‘yuck!’, and tell us all about the heinous things you’ve seen on your commute, dear friends.
Meanwhile, Rick shared some of his insights about how the Covid-19 pandemic had affected the subway in New York City.
“For a while during the pandemic, the NYC subway system was pretty desolate and people were very wary about traveling places around strangers. That has visibly changed in the last year or so and it’s very obvious that more people are now using it again,” he said.
“For some reason, crime has spiked in the subway since the pandemic and that’s another leading cause to why some people refuse to use it these days. It seems more and more people are either walking places or using other means of transportation such as bikes, electric scooters, etc. It’ll be interesting to see if this trend continues in the future.
#10 This Man Taking Up 4 Seats On Public Transit
Look, let’s have a frank chat, Pandas: hygiene is important. Everyone gets sweaty and that’s completely natural, but there’s a limit to how ‘comfortable’ you get on public transport. We draw the line at people taking off their shoes and socks on the subway.
You shouldn’t be going barefoot in places like these! First of all, it’s dirty. Secondly—and more importantly—think of all the other passengers next to you. Some folks stick their stinky, smelly, icky feet into other people’s personal space, and it’s so gross that you don’t need a list like this one to tell you that it’s wrong.
Some passengers go as far as clipping their nails on the tube. Others clean their ears and leave the q-tips for someone else to clean up. Those are definitely worse behaviors than forgetting about your empty bag of crisps. Just… pick up after yourself. Please! Public transport isn’t a public toilet. It’s also not your home where you can do pretty much whatever you want to.
Then you have your ‘classics’ like pretty awful excuses for human beings taking up way too many seats when it’s crowded. This goes beyond not giving up your seat for those who might need it more and enters the territory of So Incredibly Selfish We Can’t Believe Their Parents Didn’t Teach Them Better.
Something that the Covid-19 pandemic should have taught everyone was the importance of personal hygiene, keeping your distance from others, and wearing face masks. Alas! It seems like far from everyone learned those lessons.
And we’re back to where we were before the pandemic: personal space being invaded by people’s feet (socks optional) and clutter friggin everywhere. Behavior like that is making us seriously consider how deep selfishness can actually go. Not everyone is able to respect common-sense boundaries. But to repeat ourselves, common sense ain’t that common.
Researchers led by Christopher Mason, who had done a 2015 study on the microbes found in the New York subway system, discovered that each city had a different microbial makeup. In other words, researchers could predict with a whopping 88% accuracy which city a sample came from.
The researchers found 748 bacteria and 10,928 viruses that had not been identified at that point. Though the vast majority of these are (probably) of no concern, it suggests that public transport can be the perfect melting pot for the spread and mutation of new illnesses.
However much we might frown at public transport, it’s not all bad. You can use your commute to catch up on various things, browse some memes, or take a break from everything (…or at least that’s what we tell ourselves to hide the fact that we really REALLY hate long commutes and think they’re soul-crushingly evil in a completely mundane way).
Has anything similar ever happened to you? Share your thoughts with us in the comment section.
#17 Im A Bus Driver. Someone Left Their Food On The Seat