Remember my social experiments when I was pregnant with ZK? Well, I learnt more things on the train recently..
In recent months, I've been getting increasingly irritated by people who move slowly in the train stations - they're delaying me from getting to my baby! But if you're old or pregnant or physically challenged and so walk a little slowly, that's fine; I'll just be patient if I can't overtake you.
But guess why many people move slowly? Because their eyes are glued to their stupid phones! And no, it's usually nothing urgent. It's usually games. Really, they have to take "mobile games" literally?? Or worse, downloaded shows - cos not only are they blind, they are also deaf!
Two things happened recently.
Just yesterday, I was stuck behind this woman on the way to the escalator - there was no space for overtaking at that point. And she was looking down at her phone in her hands, walking s l o w l y . . . I decided to step up - and stepped onto her shoe from behind. Yes, I did it on purpose, and no, I never intended to apologise. But guess what? She turned and said sorry! Huh?! So, besides taking to moving slowly, people are also anyhow saying sorry these days?? Or are all those mobile games or constant sound feed from ear pieces confusing them too much??
A few weeks ago, I was squeezing into the middle of a train. An angmoh was standing there, holding a Kindle in one hand and grabbing the handle with the other. The gadget was taking the space of a person who could be standing just to his left and in front. So there was this obvious space in the middle of a crowded train. The guy was tall-ish so the Kindle was held high enough for me to slip under. (I wonder why no one shorter than me took up that space - I'm not exactly the shortest!) I ended up becoming his Kindle stand - he didn't move the damn thing away! I had to turn and told him to lift that higher. Oblivious idiot.
And I just remembered another incident on the way home today. The crowds poured in at Outram and we all shuffled further in. I ended up behind a teenager with a backpack who was chatting with his friend standing next to him. Now I really hate it when people don't put down a large backpack that takes up the space of a person. But this backpack was small so I didn't bother. But suddenly, this boy decided to lean back while holding on to the handle over his head. There was no space for me to back into so I told him to stop leaning back. Just what was he thinking?! Time for a stretch on the train?!
Actually, many people are really oblivious to their surroundings when they're glued to their gadgets. It's plain rude when they're with company. And it can be downright dangerous if they do that on the streets. Or if they meet people like me :p
Don't worry. I do all these to people too. Sometimes my hubby does that too.
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