More LIRR readers' stories

August 15, 2006

One evening my train from Penn Station to Seaford was two cars short, which resulted in a lot of people standing in the aisles. One man, sitting in the aisle seat closest to the doors, became increasingly agitated simply because there was a woman standing next to him.

Cursing under his breath, he finally yelled out, "Can you just give me two inches of space!" She was very nice and tried to move over, even though there was nowhere she could go.

If it were me, I wouldn't have been so nice. I hate it when people "claim their space." It's when a passenger spreads his legs out into two seats of leg room, puts a briefcase, umbrella and coffee cup on the seat next to him, and then, when I say "excuse me" to sit down next to him, he hems and haws and makes faces, as if I'm the one being rude.

Use the overhead storage! Sit up straight! And maybe, once in a while, smile to the person sitting next to you.

Commuting stinks, but you're not the only one doing it every day. Erika

On the 6:15 a.m. train from Valley Stream, a man across the aisle was testing a new GPS receiver that speaks to you.

This GPS spoke all the way to Penn Station, quite loudly. I told him how rude he was and he told me to mind my own business and go to sleep. Marc

Your LIRR Behaving Badly article is a great idea.

I think Newsday can make a cartoon picture each week with a story.

Don

E-mail mae.cheng@ newsday.com to contribute your ideas, and visit newsday.com/li for more ideas and tales of bad behavior.