Friday 28 September 2007

Outrage on the Southeastern Railway



I was on the train this afternoon, on the way to see my Mother. Nothing too untoward happened apart from the rain. I board the train and sit down and take out my magazine. The train pulls out of the station and we are on our way.

About half way through the journey, the man sitting across the aisle from me's umbrella, which he has propped against the seat, gets dislodged by the motion of the train, and it falls across the aisle, hits my thigh and lands at my feet, within my side of the carriage.

The man grabs a hold of the end of the umbrella and pulls it towards himself. He picks it up and stows it on his other side, thus securing it, and he returns to reading his newspaper.


I look at him and he pretends not to see me. "Excuse me", i say.

Man: ( with raised eyebrows): Yes?
Me:Your umbrella hit me when it fell.
Man (sarcastically): Injured, are you?
Me (with an equal amount of sarcasm): Of course not. But it's only polite to say sorry when something like that happens.
Man (in a subdued voice): Well, i'm sorry then.
"Whatever", i think to myself.

What is wrong with people? According to the British, it's Americans who are not supposed to understand irony, not black people (sorry to any Americans who might read this). What did he expect? That i would be so intimidated by his sarcasm, i'd have no response? Even if he hadn't realised the umbrella hit me, it had clearly landed in my space and he hadn't had the courtesy or gumption to say sorry. And when i point this out to him, he resorts to sarcasm. Blooming cheek!!!

I'm not really bothered actually, cos i'm happy with the response i gave, but i just felt like getting this off my chest...

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

rude guy!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

Waffarian said...

Ah! the one that gets me is when people bump into you and then they "eye" you like you have done something wrong. There was a day this happened a couple of times, I was already so sick of it so when a young girl bumped into me and this time I did not even react(normally "sorry or excuse me" is a reflex action for me when such happens, even when I am not at fault!) and she had the guts to´"eye" me, she had already walked past but that day, I decided that I just could not let her go.So, I turned back and caught up with her(she was a fast walker), and I said "I think you should apologise, you bumped into me and still you had the guts to look at me like that, I think that was rude and I am so sick of people like you that don't have manners looking at me like I am at fault". The girl was shocked, she apologised immediately! Since then, I don't let them get away with that shit, immediately someone does something, I react immediately.

Carlang said...

The nerve of the guy.
In india he would hgave been stoned to death with cows..
okay..
maybe not.
Bumping into rude people can be an annoying thing. it irks me terribly..
Yet it something we have to leave with.
because one of the sad rules of good behaviour is...
You cant respond to bad behaviour with likewise actions.

Welcome back again..
Missed you!!

P.s
Evil carl:You for seize the umbrella!!

UndaCovaSista said...

@pink-satin - I know!! Imagine the imagination!! (lol). Good to see you out and about in Blogsville again...

@ Waffarian - I can just imagine the look on the girl's face. These people need to be told!!! Well done, jare. I've also learnt to pick my battles, tho'. Some days, i let things go, but if i feel that it will keep niggling me if i let it go, then i will definitely let the person know that they were out of order...

@ Carlang - I take your point, but sometimes, you just have to point out these things to people cos the ignorant sods really do not know...!

Lol@ Evil Carl. Infact i should have seized it and used it to whack him on the head several times. Or...or seized it and snapped it in two across my knee and thrown the pieces out of the window. Or...ok, i better stop now.

And ahhh, thanks for missing me ;0)

Admin UD said...

Tell da white mofo to take his arrogance and shove it up his a$$ or berra still give him a punch on my behalf when next you 'jam' him. wat a cheek?!

UndaCovaSista said...

@ ugo - ok, and when the police arrive to take me away, i can skip bail, take a boat to Cyprus and tell immigration i know you (as per your latest post?). Sounds like a plan ;0)

UndaCovaSista said...

NB - I DETEST RUDENESS AS A MATTER OF PRINCIPLE REGARDLESS OF THE RACE OF THE INDIVIDUAL CONCERNED

Don Thieme said...

It is good to know that someone is standing up for British manners!

You write a great narrative here and express your own feelings well. Blooming cheek!

UndaCovaSista said...

@ Don - Merci beaucoup. Vous êtes très gentil...

bighead said...

I agree with evil carl. Then you should have tossed it outside the train make we know whether im go beat you. Let me know what happens when yu try that.