Comfort

The subway is often a study on human nature. At what point does someone give in and do something they wouldn't normally do just for comfort? At my station, which is about 20 minutes from midtown Manhattan, there is usually a fight for a seat in the morning. I usually get one, but sometimes people get a little pushy just to get a place to sit.

(On a side note, one morning I was waiting for the train to arrive, and I was positioned on the platform right where I knew the door would open. I could feel someone starting to push against me from behind as the train pulled into the station, but I was not going to move. When the train stopped and the door opened, the person behind me started pushing past me to get a seat. I turned around and was ready to give them a piece of my mind, when I saw it was a woman with a teenage boy with Down's Syndrome just trying to get a seat. I stood for weeks after that...)

There is occasionally a homeless person asleep on a seat when the train gets to my station. Commuters will sit everywhere else while avoiding that seat with the unusual neighbor. If there are no open seats, however, I can see the wheels turning in the commuter's mind, actually hearing their thoughts as they decide whether to break down and sit next to the homeless character.

"I'd rather sit next to him then stand."

"If I breathe through this dirty handkerchief he almost smells like my grandfather."

"At least I'm not sitting next to that girl putting on her eye liner."

It's the same situation with a wet or dirty seat. Sometimes a seat will have water in it, and the poor person sitting closest to it is tasked with telling everyone who runs to it thinking they will have a leisurely ride, "No, it's wet. I'm sorry."

Sometimes this bearer of bad news revels in their job, I can see the glee in their face as they break heart after heart. Or they are sympathetic, breaking the news with a sad grimace, told from their perch of comfort.

Again, however, there's a breaking point and someone will eventually whip out an old tissue or a scarf to sop up the mess, or if it's just a little damp spot, they will just dive in and sit down, thinking their absorbent panties will just take care of the mess, like a human Bounty.

Comfort almost always wins out.