Friday, September 18, 2009

Metro Arm Barber

From Fred:
Here's a photo I took Sept. 13 on the Orange at Line going to Vienna, taken somewhere around Court House. The guy was cutting all of his arm hair off with a pair of scissors and just brushing the hair onto the seat and floor! It was truly disgusting, and the entire end of the car was staring in shock. I can't believe how some people will act in public spaces.

The other day someone tweeted about witnessing a rider flossing on the Rosslyn escalator.

Metro behavior Hall of Shame
Clippin'
The Encroacher
Wide Stance

...and our ever-growing list of annoying riders

Other items
Another apparent suicide (WaPo)
Seoul had 95 suicides by subway in '03, took interesting, inexpensive measures (AP)
A Japanese approach (AFP)
Metro's approach (WTOP)
Another view of the tea party complainers (Examiner)
Should there be women-only cars? (Hollaback DC)

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10 comments:

Anonymous said...

OMG! That is REVOLTING! Do people do this stuff in their living room? I was taught in public it was proper to behave like you were in your grandmother's living room (no feet on the chairs, give up chairs for elderly, handicapped, mother's with children, etc). As a result, I am often shocked by the rude behaviour on metro.

I wonder if this guy missed the lesson and misread the notes -- maybe he thinks he is supposed to behave like he is in the bathroom... I hate to see what else he thinks he can do on metro!!!

Anthony S Jennings said...

Theres a woman on the Red line who shows up in rollers, barely dressed. She styles her hair, applies her makeup, and acts as if this behavior is totally acceptable. I'm half expecting her to start showing up with a bucket of water and a hand towel to give herself a ho bath.

Anonymous said...

Metro's approach to suicide prevention sounds lame. The employees are supposed to help? Laughable. they probably DRIVE people to want to kill themselves!

Anonymous said...

Hey, A.S. Jennings - I have your counterpart on my Orange line. Every morning he gets on with his tie and shirt hanging loose. He then maneuvers himself in front of a door to use as a mirror. he then proceeds to tuck in his shirt, tie his tie (which takes about 20 minutes - he is so precise!), and comb (ack! gross!) his not-so-full head of hair.

This man does it every day. Has he no bathroom at HOME?

Anonymous said...

At 12:19 pm today I just witnessed bus #2066 make a very fast left turn from Wilson Blvd to Stuart St. (Arlington) and almost wiped out 9 people in the crosswalk - WITH the crosswalk light on. A loud collective "Woh!" rang out as everyone bolted for safety. The driver stopped in the crosswalk, looked at the people yelling at him, then.... stepped on the gas fast once again heading up the street.

How do all of these drivers get to wear patches saying how safe a driver they are? One nearly took me out at a subway station yesterday when I was ALREADY in the crosswalk and he was parked until he moved... and apparently dared me to play chicken with him. (I declined - I jumped froward fast so I could live another day.)

I suppose it has to do with Metro not checking details on employee history. How do these people manage to stay afloat?

Anonymous said...

I also had the pleasure of witnessing the gentleman in the OP. At least I think it's the same guy, because I certainly recognize the shirt. I mean, look at it! Also, the scissors. I recognize those, too. Quite the spectacle. Anyway, there is a significant detail that has, surprisingly, been omitted from the blog post. Allow me to regale you all:

Besides using the scissors to meticulously improve his, uh, hydrodynamic form, he would also occasionally address nearby people, one at a time, to announce that he spoke Russian, and did they by any chance also happen to speak Russian? Sadly, I did not see anybody respond affirmatively to his inquiry throughout the duration of my epic odyssey from Ballston to E. Falls, so admittedly my exposure was limited. But I doubt I missed anything, because if I were a betting man, I would wager that at no point during last Sunday was the Orange Line packed with people fluent in Russian. As I deboarded at my stop, I reflected on what I had just seen and deduced that the arm barber was probably a tourist who had not ridden the DC Metro with much regularity.

So, rather than being a subject to a blatant disregard of American norms of hygiene, I felt like I had been given a rare glimpse into a foreign culture. I am grateful for the insight, as I don't like to appear like a tourist whenever I vacation. I look forward to fitting right in as I someday publicly perform some manscaping on my own arms, possibly while on the Moscow Metro. Hopefully the Hawaiian shirt is not mandatory, though. I don’t really care for it.

Anonymous said...

Baby steps Metro! How about you guys implementing a program to provide courteous service before you try to prevent suicides?

Anonymous said...

Great, now you bitches are going to start demanding we screen mentally ill people and put them in some special car. And the imbeciles who run Metro may actually try to come up with some program to appease you.

Anonymous said...

And I think we have our first passenger for the padded car right here above this!

Anonymous said...

I heartly agree Anon at 9:33. - perhaps it is the arm-shaver himself? :) Anon from 2:18 - You must write more posts - That is hilarious, albeit sadly true?

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