Complaint

I dislike cigarette smoke, to put it mildly. Despise might be a more accurate term. As I was coming home from 6294 tonight, I had the misfortune of catching the very last train. When this has happened before, I didn't mind so much. Sure it is a little slower than normal (the last red line train waits for the last green line train and orange line train, so delays in either of those lines means a wait).

But tonight was an entirely different sort of issue. Two guys got on the train smoking cigarettes. There are a number of signs saying that it's illegal, but that didn't phase them. I told the guy to put out the cigarette, and he refused.

I won't go into the nitty-gritty, but it put me and everyone else on the train in an awkward position, although me more than most. If I had insisted, I know there was a good chance the confrontation would have escalated. I thought about pushing the call button, but again, an escalation would be likely. Even if I stood up, it could have been construed as a confrontational move. Also, if I had tried going forward to the talk to the conductor directly, there was a decent chance the doors would have closed and I would miss the last train.

There was more drama to the story, but my part ended when I got to my stop and informed the attendent at the station about the two guys who were smoking. I have no idea if anything will come of it (I doubt it), but... Actually, my part didn't quite end there, since I also wrote a message to the MBTA explaining the situation, and asking what a person is supposed to do.

On a slightly unrelated note (only relating in that it also happened on the train), I felt rather overdressed on the subway. Wearing a jacket and tie on the subway, on the first nice day (a weekend day none-the-less) made me stand out more than usual. Heck, wearing long pants put me in a very small minority.

P.S. I feel I should justify this posting a little bit more. I try to be the sort of person who is not upset by things. But sometimes something happens that really causes my blood to boil (and in this case triggers my asthma and causes my eyes to burn). Even though it is two in the morning, and I really should be going to bed, this had me wound up enough that blowing off steam writing a blog entry seems like the sane option.