In the March 2016 issue of Teen Ink, they published a piece called “The Delights of Public Transportation” under the travel and culture section. Written by Holly Stretton, she told us about an encounter she had with a stranger whilst waiting at the bus stop. It wasn’t a pleasant conversation. She led into her story by stating all the types of people you see while riding public transportation. Almost anywhere, really. There’s always the couple who enjoys arguing about who loves the other more, the woman trying to control her rowdy children, the rowdy and annoying boys blasting their music, and the “important” person loudly talking into their phone. In the midst of all this ruckus, Holly touched upon a social problem in public places.
Holly was approached by a “spotty, lanky, greasy-haired guy whose smile revealed an array of incredibly stained teeth.” Not exactly the type of person you’d want to interact with on your commute home. Holly believed in the headphone rule. The headphone rule is when a person wears headphones, it usually means that they do not want to be disturbed. However, this stranger completely disregarded this rule and instead, started a conversation with Holly. This got me thinking. Was it rude of the man to bother Holly when she obviously did not want to bothered? Holly wasn’t doing anything wrong. Although she did not want to be bothered, the man had a right to start a conversation with her.
Eventually, she and the stranger were joined by an outraged lady. The lady, to Holly, was “this magical saviour.” She and Holly ranted about absurd time schedules while the man scooted towards where Holly was sitting. Was it rude of Holly to just stop talking to the man to start up another conversation with the woman? Was it necessary because Holly was feeling threatened by the man? Holly’s story takes place in England, while I live in America. A couple weeks ago, I heard that subway crime rates have gone up. Growing up in New York City has forced me to use the subway as my means of transportation. What if this story happened in New York rather than England? It seems more common for a predator to walk up to young girls and start a conversation with them in New York rather than England. If I felt threatened, what would I have done? I probably would have done the same as Holly, by striking up a conversation with someone else to save myself.
I don’t believe that Holly was rude to the stranger. Towards the end of the piece, the stranger asks for her phone number and Holly pretends to text it to him. She does give it to him when he states that he didn’t get it. Was this taking it one step too far? Does everyone need to exchange phone numbers of everyone we meet at a bus stop? In society, there are many people who don’t know the proper social etiquette. Like this stranger, many people do not know their boundaries.