Confrontation on the MBTA - Why "Refuse to Be a Victim" is a Valuable Course

[rofl]

Sorry Len, that was too good to pass up! Lol

I mention that only because it is possible that the entire scene might be related to the older guy's intolerance of "different lifestyles". I didn't see/hear what started the fracas so can only offer what I did see/hear that might explain what happened. The fact that the argument was supposedly about "manspreading" to prevent him sitting down, yet a young lady was able to sit between the combatants just doesn't compute in my mind.


The last time I rode the red line was about a year ago, I observed an MBTA worker that was just getting off of work board the train. She eyed the seats carefully, found some discarded newspapers and put them on top of the seat she intended to sit in. She paused for several seconds then sat down on the newspapers.

She saw us looking at her and felt compelled to explain: The plastic seats with dark carpet upholstery hide stains she said...and hold wetness too. More than once she's sat in a puddle of questionable liquids, including urine, at the end of her shift and this was her method to limit the occurrence of that unpleasantness.

I hate public transportation, and I prefer to stand.

I'm not fond of the subway lines, but it sure as hell beats driving in circles to find parking in the city, paying $20-40 for the "privilege" and still having to walk a mile from your parked car. The commuter rail is usually just that, very few vagabonds and mostly professionals who work in the city but live in the 'burbs.
 
The last time I rode the red line was about a year ago, I observed an MBTA worker that was just getting off of work board the train. She eyed the seats carefully, found some discarded newspapers and put them on top of the seat she intended to sit in. She paused for several seconds then sat down on the newspapers.

She saw us looking at her and felt compelled to explain: The plastic seats with dark carpet upholstery hide stains she said...and hold wetness too. More than once she's sat in a puddle of questionable liquids, including urine, at the end of her shift and this was her method to limit the occurrence of that unpleasantness.

Whatever moron in MBTA management decided that replacing the sheet vinyl seats with 'vandal proof' carpet on the Red and Orange lines was a grand idea should have been fired. It's impossible to clean to even the MBTA's low standards. At least that lunacy didn't spread to the blue & green lines, and buses.
 
Whatever moron in MBTA management decided that replacing the sheet vinyl seats with 'vandal proof' carpet on the Red and Orange lines was a grand idea should have been fired. It's impossible to clean to even the MBTA's low standards. At least that lunacy didn't spread to the blue & green lines, and buses.


[puke]

I completely agree...

Except the seats, floors, walls and ceilings should be impervious plastic or metal, steam cleaned nightly.
 
Refuse to be a victim - Don't ride the T.

Just sayin.

I don't ride the T for the same reason I avoid certain neighborhoods/cities. The T is often a cesspool. I have never been on even the Red line without seeing at least one dirtball.

what a stupid comment. You do realize that 98% of the people who work in Boston cannot possibly afford the $500 a month it would cost to park right?
 
[puke]

I completely agree...

Except the seats, floors, walls and ceilings should be impervious plastic or metal, steam cleaned nightly.

True, they should be made of the same material used for the back seats of cruisers that transport prisoners! Hose it down with bleach and you are GTG for another day's use.
 
nothing to add except this is why I am more than willing to suffer driving and parking a large Silverado in Boston.

I'm glad you don't own a Tahoe, Mass. plate 85W Y40. Insane road rager, thought it might have been you. [smile]
 
The last time I rode the red line was about a year ago, I observed an MBTA worker that was just getting off of work board the train. She eyed the seats carefully, found some discarded newspapers and put them on top of the seat she intended to sit in. She paused for several seconds then sat down on the newspapers.

She saw us looking at her and felt compelled to explain: The plastic seats with dark carpet upholstery hide stains she said...and hold wetness too. More than once she's sat in a puddle of questionable liquids, including urine, at the end of her shift and this was her method to limit the occurrence of that unpleasantness.

I hate public transportation, and I prefer to stand.

Always test the seat before sitting down[thumbsup]
 
I drive in to Boston whenever I come in for non business reasons but 99% of workers in Boston can't afford to park every day.


Exactly: It isn't the driving that's expensive, its the parking. Of course city & state employees have a nice parking garage so maybe I work for the wrong employer.
 
[puke]

I completely agree...

Except the seats, floors, walls and ceilings should be impervious plastic or metal, steam cleaned nightly.

True, they should be made of the same material used for the back seats of cruisers that transport prisoners! Hose it down with bleach and you are GTG for another day's use.

At UMass, if you were at the gym at the end of the evening, the custodians would come in for cleanup time. They would wear these spacesuit looking suits, and have this big hose with some hot bleach disinfectant solution. They would spray the ENTIRE PLACE down from ceiling to floor, all walls, everything.

This is what EVERY gym locker and shower room should be like, as well as the T.

Make everything exposed from recycled plastic, and have it modular, so when it disintegrates over time, you just snap a new panel on in its place. In fact, this is how they should make truck and JEEP fenders.


i'm so white bread i totally forgot to yell worldstar when we tased ben. damn it.

WTH is this?
 
I agree with you but I'm not going to protect those around me either, only my Wife and I. The rest can fend for themselves. If we are threatened it helps to have something other than a gun, but unless threatened directly by what is going on, I'm not getting involved.

ESPECIALLY in this liberal CommonPuke of LiberChusetts....This is what these AntiGun, Liberal, Wingnut nitwits want. This is what they get. Help someone and end up facing a grand jury, all my firearms in bonded storage, LTC yanked, etc etc etc? F*ck that. Come at me or my wife and kids, look out. Come at the rest of the sheep?...Turn the page on the newspaper and say "Meh, whatever"....
...THIS IS WHAT YOU WANTED, MARTHA....and Deval, and Linskey, and Creem, and DeLeo, and.....THIS IS WHAT YOU GET.
 
what a stupid comment. You do realize that 98% of the people who work in Boston cannot possibly afford the $500 a month it would cost to park right?

Yeah ... my wife worked in Boston for 20 years. She must be a total idiot.

Maybe if your loved one was lying in a hospital bed after getting stabbed on the Green line, you can explain to them how smart you are for saving on parking. Not to mention if you take a job in the city that doesn't pay more because it is in the city... that is kind of stupid.

And the last time I checked, the T wasn't free and last winter they shut it down for how long? Did you stop going to work?
Yeah, stupid comment.
 
Lol, yes maybe watching to much TV.....
I have used OC but not in an enclosed area. I'm ass-u-ming that more than just the one or two combatants would be affected by the spray, which sometimes tends to have others feel affected too.
Not far fetched...
Not far fetched at all. I was at a party years ago when some ******* sprayed some in the kitchen to be a funny guy. It affected everybody in the kitchen. A bunch of people start complaining of burning eyes and throats in a subway car and you bet your ass fire trucks and ambulances will show up.
 
Ambulances and fire trucks for OC? [rofl]

Depends on how it gets called in. Especially on the T, it would likely end up being entered as "people have trouble breathing from unknown odor on the train". It would get a T and Boston PD, Boston Fire, and Boston EMS response. Outside of Boston it would get the T Police and whatever local resources there are. It NEVER comes in as one or two people sprayed with OC, even though that's what it almost always turns out to be.
 
I get free parking from work and still take the commuter rail + red line. I get Zone 7 pass from work but no compensation on Gas.

So, getting to work on Gas would mean roughly $280/month. Over a year = $3360. Vs T-pass - free. I do need to pay for Parking at the commuter Rail lot, that comes out be ~$1000/year.

I'm pretty sure that most of you saying you'd drive if parking was cheep, if you live >25miles from your workplace, the price of gas+car millage will convince you otherwise.

Yes, the T sucks, commuter rail sucks too. Such is the life of commuting into a large metro. The smart ones find a job in the 'burbs.
 
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I get free parking from work and still take the commuter rail + red line. I get Zone 7 pass from work but no compensation on Gas.

So, getting to work on Gas would mean roughly $280/month. Over a year = $3360. Vs T-pass - free. I do need to pay for Parking at the commuter Rail lot, that comes out be ~$1000/year.

I'm pretty sure that most of you saying you'd drive if parking was cheep, if you live >25miles from your workplace, the price of gas+car millage will convince you otherwise.

Yes, the T sucks, commuter rail sucks too. Such is the life of commuting into a large metro. The smart ones find a job in the 'burbs.

Most people seem to only consider the cost of gas when calculating the cost of travel.

I get calls all the time to serve legal papers 20 miles away x 3 attempts and they want it done for $45! That's 3+ hours of time and 120 miles for $45.00 . . . such a deal? No thanks.

Similarly people here post all the time that they will travel to NH to save sales tax and it only costs them $xx in gas money. It'd be nice if the cost to run a car was really so cheap but replacing tires/brakes/tune-ups/major repairs usually are directly related to usage. The IRS calculates something like $0.57/mile and they aren't known for generosity.
 
In the early 2000's i would usually grab the last redline on the weekend nights home, it was not at all unusual to see fist fights on that train it happened so often i started to get numb to it. but aware.
In my experience (and what do I know, living in Boston for 20 years) the number one threat to security is drunken sports fans, followed by generic drunken 20-somethings. Outside some of the stations there can be thieves of opportunity floating around.

Up to 1.3 million people ride the T daily, I'd think shouting matches occur regularly. I've never seen an actual fight but I don't stay out late, unless I'm coming back from the airport or something.
 
In my experience (and what do I know, living in Boston for 20 years) the number one threat to security is drunken sports fans, followed by generic drunken 20-somethings.
To this point. 375 Old Colony is a housing project, BTW. Times must be good to get Red Sox tickets.

A judge ordered Scott and Steve Leader held without bail pending a Sept. 3 dangerousness hearing, the Suffolk County DA's office reports.

State Police report the brothers interrupted their journey home from last night's Sox game to attack a homeless man they found wrapped in a sleeping bag on Columbia Road next to the JFK/UMass station.

According to State Police, their investigation showed that after urinating on the 58-year-old man around 12:30 a.m.:

They punched him multiple times and struck him with a metal pole. According to one witness statement, the victim may have slept with the pole nearby for protection.

The man was taken to Boston Medical Center for treatment.

State Police say Scott Leader, 38, and Steve Leader, 30, both of 375 Old Colony Ave., continued their pissing ways after their arrests:

Both became highly aggressive and combative while being booked at the South Boston Barracks - exposing themselves and urinating in the cell, challenging troopers to come into the cells to fight, banging on the cell door, and making threatening and anti-immigration statements. Scott Leader made a statement referring to the victim as an “illegal immigrant” and stated the reason he and his brother were arrested is that they were white and the victim was a minority (the victim, who is not being identified, is Hispanic). At one point Steve Leader punched and kicked the plexiglass on the cell door for 30 minutes continuously.
 
Get off next stop then alert police or, if possible, alert the driver and then get off the train. Do NOT engage!
 
I get free parking from work and still take the commuter rail + red line. I get Zone 7 pass from work but no compensation on Gas.

So, getting to work on Gas would mean roughly $280/month. Over a year = $3360. Vs T-pass - free. I do need to pay for Parking at the commuter Rail lot, that comes out be ~$1000/year.

I'm pretty sure that most of you saying you'd drive if parking was cheep, if you live >25miles from your workplace, the price of gas+car millage will convince you otherwise.

Yes, the T sucks, commuter rail sucks too. Such is the life of commuting into a large metro. The smart ones find a job in the 'burbs.

can I use your free city parking?
 
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