Gross Commuters

 

I am not the king of etiquette.  I know that.  However, some people... or in this case, at least one person is worse than I am.  That person was riding the subway with me on Friday.

I was trying to read my book (Ghost Train to the Eastern Star by Paul Theroux--in case you were wondering).  I heard a sound that I instantly recognized--but dismissed as impossible on the subway.  It was a metal clacking sound.  I looked up, and sure enough, it was what I thought.  A woman was trimming her nails on the subway.

Am I crazy?  Is this normal behaviour?

I know I am not the only one who thought this was wrong.  I looked over at the person next to me, and he shook his head in disgust too.

This wasn't some self involved teen, or some homeless person, or some princess type.  This was an average woman, holding a conversation with her friend--who, I might add, had supplied her with the clippers in the first place.  Her friend didn't seem to mind that she was littering the subway (and most likely her friend's coat and purse) with her DNA.

Fair is fair.  The subway is not a bastion of cleanliness.  There is probably already a fair bit of gunge and scum and other stuff floating around.  I can't really think she is making it any dirtier, but I still think what she did was gross.

I can't have been the only one...could I?

Amazingly, while searching for images for this post, I typed "clipping your nails on the subway".  Perhaps that was a mistake as so many pictures came up.

Yuck!