Lessons learnt commuting and using public transit.

• Always look before you sit
• Why you ask, because you are liable to sit in shit, piss, vomit or other unidentifiable bodily secretions
• Never stand directly behind anyone on the escalator
• Why – because you are liable to get a face full of stink ranging anywhere from body odour to an indiscriminate funky fart.
• Never look up (look forward) when travelling on an escalator
• Why – because you may see things you don’t want to, like dirty thongs, naked and pimpled bottoms
• Never sit in front of or beside of an intoxicated person
• Why-you liable to get a vomit shower trust me it happens, my daughter was a witness to a horrifying site of a drunk on the bus that vomited on the guy sitting in front of him.
• Be prepared to be pushed and inconvenience at times
• Don’t expect the person preceding you through a door to hold it long enough for you to hold it yourself. If it occurs be grateful and say thank you.
• Do not expect a man to offer you his seat, if he does however remember to be gracious and say thank you
• If you greet someone greet them without conditions, don’t expect it back, if you are greeted smile it’s a gift of community.
• Be prepared to offer your seat to someone in need (elderly, pregnant woman, children, and person’s with physical disabilities)
• Always say thank you where applicable to the driver that got you safely from point A to point B
• Be flexible and prepared for unexpected delays (walk with a book, music, anything to keep you calm and focused.)
• Be aware of your general surroundings/people
• Why - in case of unexpected incidences of fights, escalating arguments, etc.
• Be mindful of what say and don’t say names and places
• Why – because you never know who is sitting beside you, behind you, in front of you, around you that may know the person you are discussing. The world is small that way and you would be surprise how what you say can come back and bite you in the ass when you least expect it.
• I cannot tell you the amount of time I’ve had people I do not recall come up to me because they remember me from my place of work and it always remind me of my grandmother when she said, “when you are in conversation with someone always remember what you say, when you said it, the reason you said and most of all do not call names.” To which she also added, “If you cannot say it to the person’s face, then don’t say it at all.”
• Never stand too near to the sidewalk on a rainy day or snow slushed day
• why – because some people that own their own vehicles are not always kind and will drive by so hard and fast that you will get a bath while simply waiting for the bus or to cross the street
• Be prepared to be irritated by inconsideration and manage your emotions
• why – because a bus/train/streetcar load of passengers are not always willing to move to the back , squeeze themselves in to accommodate you on good days far less for freezing or rainy days, they are inside and you being outside is of little concern of theirs.
• People comes in all shapes, sizes, heights, skin tones, personality types, don’t take it personally.
• why-because its not about, 90% of the people you’ll meet don’t know you from the paint on the wall so it cannot be about you but rather about them, how they think, what’s going with them.
• Take all encounters, incidences, experiences in stride and know that no one situation is permanent, it is just but a fleeting moment of time, you don’t have to own it.

QUESTION:

• Have you learnt anything from commuting, being amounts' others or using public transit?