Eating spaghetti on the subway resulted in a brawl between the person eating, and the person offended by the smell and seeming lack of consideration of the chow-hound. Who is in the wrong? Be it cell phone use, stinky food, loud music pounding out of headphones, should we expect common courtesy in public places? Short of legislation, how can we reinforce it?
This video is very hard to understand and follow but just this general question begs me to wonder where our manners went and what’s wrong with people?
Us Girls..Our Views 
Since when has eating or drinking been allowed on buses or subways? It’s up to the bus lines and subway authorities to set the rules and regulations for their riders. Obey the rules or walk. That’s was always the choice in the past. The problem with common courtesy is that it’s no longer all that common! 😦
Phyllis, do we know that eating or drinking is allowed or disallowed in this situation? If it is against the rules I, for one, would prefer the driver to pay attention to the driving. How should this be inforced?
Excellent question…..I’m not sure how it would be enforced since I know absolutely nothing about subways. I, too, would prefer the driver to be paying attention to the driving. I hadn’t thought that far ahead. 😦
Ok, I have to start with… it’s rude to eat meals on public transportation. I’m ok with a cup of something – coffee, coke, water, whatever. I’m ok with a candy bar, granola bar, gum. But when you’re bringing your dinner on… you can’t wait until you get home? You couldn’t eat it at home?
I don’t know what that other woman was thinking, either. I couldn’t hear everything she was saying, but it seemed awful rude from the get go, judging by her facial expressions.
And then the ‘getting in your face’ bit. I don’t know who started that, but seriously, WHEN is that a good idea? It’s like trying to stare down an alpha wolf and expecting to win without physical contact. Ain’t gonna happen!
I agree, common civility has all but vanished in our society. And when I meet it, I am always shocked, and pleasantly surprised. The other day, a man held the door for me and said, “ladies first.” I was, quite literally, speechless.
Sadly, it is everywhere. And if you say something, you can expect a rude answer. I still think, most of this starts at the homes. The arrogant attitude of that girl that was eating, is making me so upset. What the heck does she think she is???? But this trashy behavior you see here, in Europe, everywhere.
I could not hear the video, so I really couldn’t tell all that was happening. But it looked like a lot of the people defended/protected the older lady who started complaining, and that was good to see.
I think that in a case like this, part of it may be that the first complainer was white, and the younger woman or her companion may have assumed there was racism involved, and thus got more angry than she otherwise might have. I think that a we in the US encourage people to see racism in everything. Rudeness is rudeness, regardless of what color you are.
Now I personally would never say anything about someone else’s rudeness unless they were my kids / companions / employees / servers. I think when you call someone out for their rude behavior, that’s not exactly polite either. That lady didn’t seem like she was ever going to shut up. Maybe she had a mental problem.
Eating on the subway may not be high manners, but maybe the woman was rushing from one job to the other and it was her only chance to eat. Or maybe nobody taught her better. Sad all around.
I think they are both in the wrong, for different reasons. The lady who was complaining did seem to be quite rude from the beginning, and in this situation, I can’t see that being a good way to resolve the problem. That just pissed off the girl who was eating, and the complainer probably knew that. The girl eating should not have been eating to begin with, not a meal! Like Laura said, a candy bar, or coffee is one thing, but a meal? The whole approach was doomed from the beginning, and the result was inevitable. Not okay, but I could see what was going to happen.
I have no idea what the rules of the buses/subway/train system is. But what happened to plain ol’ common courtesy?
Well all that over spaghetti?Though I dont know if she should have been eating a meal I also dont think that I would have said anything to her.This world has become very disrespectful and an “all about me” attitude and Im going to do what I want, so a person almost has to let things like this that bother us go.They wont listen anyhow.We cant correct the whole world,that starts at home and many parents are failing in that area.
I must say Id rather have someone eating spaghetti than being loud and obnoxious.Not sure what it was that bothered the complainer so much about it.