as I've been taking the bus to work for a while now, I've started to notice some behavior patterns that one might not see when riding the subway. One is people not doing anything: they don't listen to music, don't read the paper or a book, they don't even look out the window, which is frankly one of the more underrated things in life. They just kinda stare into the void, as if they had undergone hypnotic therapy or a lobotomy. To be honest these people kinda freak me out, and there's a bunch of them. It's not about them doing something (and believe me, there's tons of stuff you can do on the bus), as much as it is about these people sometimes appearing to be very tired about life, like doing something has no point. When you sit next to them it's like they don't even register you're there. Although I guess it's still better than having them stare at you or, worse, some little kids.
Another thing I've seen often is people working. Now I have a pretty busy day myself. I'm no air traffic controller, but I do my share (on average from 8:30am to 8pm with few breaks). Yet I can't fathom how "working" 10-15 mins on the bus is going to help you out. There's this one guy who takes the same bus as me who does this every single time I see him. He's probably on the bus for 15-20 mins and invariably he'll get out his laptop and start typing away. He doesn't seem agitated, like if he were under a deadline. And this morning as he sat not too far from me on the crowded bus, he actually did the staring thing for 5 mins before getting his lappy out and starting his workday (double whammo). If I knew the dude, I'd probably ask him what he thinks doing that is going to accomplish, instead of trying to relax during his commute. I'm not saying this is a general rule, as in "you should only work when you're at the office", but when all you're going to accomplish is write an email or review 3 slides, it seems pretty pointless to me (and is another missed step on the slippery slope to not making a distinction between worklife and personal life). Basically, if you need to finish something up, stay at work 10-15 mins later and then go. If you have something to do in the morning, wake up earlier and do it at work.
Another thing I've seen often is people working. Now I have a pretty busy day myself. I'm no air traffic controller, but I do my share (on average from 8:30am to 8pm with few breaks). Yet I can't fathom how "working" 10-15 mins on the bus is going to help you out. There's this one guy who takes the same bus as me who does this every single time I see him. He's probably on the bus for 15-20 mins and invariably he'll get out his laptop and start typing away. He doesn't seem agitated, like if he were under a deadline. And this morning as he sat not too far from me on the crowded bus, he actually did the staring thing for 5 mins before getting his lappy out and starting his workday (double whammo). If I knew the dude, I'd probably ask him what he thinks doing that is going to accomplish, instead of trying to relax during his commute. I'm not saying this is a general rule, as in "you should only work when you're at the office", but when all you're going to accomplish is write an email or review 3 slides, it seems pretty pointless to me (and is another missed step on the slippery slope to not making a distinction between worklife and personal life). Basically, if you need to finish something up, stay at work 10-15 mins later and then go. If you have something to do in the morning, wake up earlier and do it at work.
Of course, there aren't things that really annoy me. Just things that I've noticed and which puzzle me a bit. If you really want me to get angry about something, ask me about people who clip their nails on the bus (true story). Then I'll have a topic to get riled up about.
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