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

http://www.wcvb.com/news/passenger-captures-red-line-mbta-assault-on-camera/34868874

What would be the best course of action in a situation like this one? It seemed this guy was looking for a fight and picking his targets based upon race.

I mind my business and keep my head on a swivel when riding the T..in this case I'd have just gotten off the train and waited for the next one if I was a bystander.

Can't believe that pussy victim didn't slug the guy. Drunk guy pushes or throws one at me, he's got a problem on his hands.
 
"Excuse me, Officer, (or is it" Soldier"??).. Is it possible for you to stay aboard til we get to Forest Hills, then you can walk down Washington Street and into the Archdale Projects and ask the same questions in there? "

" Excuse me, Officer, but since we're at the Jackson Square stop, could you walk some of the ladies to their homes and cars? And ask the same questions ("Everything OK here?") while you strut thru the projects with your heavy weaponry? Maybe knock on a few doors and see if there's any illegal activity going on there too??"

"Excuse me, sir, but could you switch to the Blue Line train and head to Revere Beach and... "

Ah, never mind. To hell with it You're doing a fine job where you are.... (and I'm sure a few chicks aboard really dig the macho thing so you might wanna grab some phone #s during your "walk through) ".

Unf*ckinreal.
 
"Excuse me, Officer, (or is it" Soldier"??).. Is it possible for you to stay aboard til we get to Forest Hills, then you can walk down Washington Street and into the Archdale Projects and ask the same questions in there? "

" Excuse me, Officer, but since we're at the Jackson Square stop, could you walk some of the ladies to their homes and cars? And ask the same questions ("Everything OK here?") while you strut thru the projects with your heavy weaponry? Maybe knock on a few doors and see if there's any illegal activity going on there too??"

"Excuse me, sir, but could you switch to the Blue Line train and head to Revere Beach and... "

Ah, never mind. To hell with it You're doing a fine job where you are.... (and I'm sure a few chicks aboard really dig the macho thing so you might wanna grab some phone #s during your "walk through) ".

Unf*ckinreal.

Reality on the Orange line from my perspective (I sometimes had to take it back from Back Bay to Ruggles or reverse when I was working at Simmons College doing IT support back in 2001-2) is that having those "soldiers" armed that way on the platform and in the cars on that line would be a good thing!! I was never comfortable being unarmed when I had to take that line!!
 
"Excuse me, Officer, (or is it" Soldier"??).. Is it possible for you to stay aboard til we get to Forest Hills, then you can walk down Washington Street and into the Archdale Projects and ask the same questions in there? "//
There it is. Forest Hills is #1!
 
... the OC I carry when I work has a safety that I would never trust to carry around all the time and the tiny ones with a better safety aren't something that I would consider adequate to carry.

How does the Harbor Freight stuff look to you?

image_17529.jpg


I carry the vague equivalent, bought at Riley's long ago. The leather holster is slightly less cheesy looking, but the trigger design is the same (rotate plunger 90° and depress). IIRC, it dispenses in a stream - not a fog.

I've never found the plunger spontaneously rotated to "unsafe", and the leather strap covers the button anyhow. So I'd say it has two safeties...

To me, refusing to be a victim in such circumstances means me putting distance between the scumbags and myself. I have got off the train before and got back on in a different car (done this many times).

Moving along a car or two is a good contingency plan, thanks for mentioning that.

The verbal stuff is usually bc two people think they are entitled to the same space and blame the other for invading their own "personal space".

Somewhere I read a psych treatise that partitions all violence into two buckets:

• A tool applied during theft of valuables.​
-vs-
• Crazy dominance game turf-protection signaling.​

There were probably high-level recommendations about how to recognize and defend against each flavor, but I didn't memorize them.
 
Well my older container expired so was replaced with a different design cap. You have to slide your finger under the cover and push down. Case it came with wore out, so was replaced with a relatively hard-shell case that snaps shut over the canister.
 
I do need to pay for Parking at the commuter Rail lot, that comes out be ~$1000/year.
First thing my brother said when he saw my house was "The commuter rail stop just down the street is worth an extra $50K on the house price". The station is a 10 minute walk, and uphill only one way, not two.
 
I had a can of the saber red dump in my pocket when I crouched down to pick something up. The tab had rotated and when i crouched down, the fabric depressed the tab. That was fun. I like the models that have their own cases now.
For a number of years the one I had was a rotating tab and I did catch it rotated dangerously a few times, but luckily it never went off.

I've always remembered what a NU cop told me (Husky 50), an officer getting out of the cruiser accidently set off his OC. Nobody could use that cruiser for 2 weeks (probably had to HEPA vac it out too). So I've always been very cautious about the stuff.
 

I did not get a good look at their shoulder patches, but a couple of weeks ago I had to go to Patriot Place on a Friday afternoon. I was thinking I would be OK because there was no football game. Apparently there was an event featuring some young fella that is popular with girls who like plaid shirts and shaving a portion of their heads, as well as sharply dressed, thin young men.
As I was making my way back to my vehicle, I had to walk past 3 guys in fatigue green, sporting buzz cuts and AR's. Patch on the shoulder said Metro Swat.
Instantly, the theme to the 70's tv show came to mind. It was all I could do to keep from humming it.
 
For a number of years the one I had was a rotating tab and I did catch it rotated dangerously a few times, but luckily it never went off.

I've always remembered what a NU cop told me (Husky 50), an officer getting out of the cruiser accidently set off his OC. Nobody could use that cruiser for 2 weeks (probably had to HEPA vac it out too). So I've always been very cautious about the stuff.

I was at work and thankfully it dumped safely into my underwear. Nobody else even smelled it. Just proves that if it’s not aerosolized it’s worthless.
 
I'm trying to think of a reason to ride a train into or out of Boston. I can't come up with one.
I can. Driving into Boston and paying for parking takes forever and cost a fortune, making the train or subway from the 'burbs a practical solution.

When it runs it is nowhere near as bad as most of you that have never been on it make it out to be . . . as long as you stay away from a handful of stations where most of the violence occurs. Commuter Rail doesn't seem to breed a crowd of troublemakers, most are professionals going to/from work and acting as such.

Last week I had a follow-up appointment with my back surgeon's office at BWH, no way I would drive in for that, I took the commuter rail and ended up riding back with a very nice young lady who is a nursing student.
 
I did not get a good look at their shoulder patches, but a couple of weeks ago I had to go to Patriot Place ..., ... I had to walk past 3 guys in fatigue green, sporting buzz cuts and AR's. Patch on the shoulder said Metro Swat.
Instantly, the theme to the 70's tv show came to mind. It was all I could do to keep from humming it.

1) I saw CEMLEC there during a Patriot's game, and the Kenney Chesney concert. One of them was a cop in my town I think. I imagine they take turns filling the security details there, so everybody gets a little (lot) of $$$ for the boats and trucks and summer houses.
2) What 70's show?


I was at work and thankfully it dumped safely into my underwear. ....

And here I get nervous using the bathroom after eating salsa!



I can. Driving into Boston and paying for parking takes forever and cost a fortune, making the train or subway from the 'burbs a practical solution. ...

The Chinese, Japanese, French, and others have bullet trains, many going near 200 mph.

We have the "GREEN LINE", where you can watch rats and lightbulbs pass by at 5 mph. I can take the commuter rail" from Worcester to Boston in maybe 80-100 minutes, not counting time and expense to park, which is often full. Or, I can drive into Boston, which takes maybe the same time or sometimes less, but I can park at my convenience, and I don't have to deal with the hassles.
 
The Chinese, Japanese, French, and others have bullet trains, many going near 200 mph.

We have the "GREEN LINE", where you can watch rats and lightbulbs pass by at 5 mph. I can take the commuter rail" from Worcester to Boston in maybe 80-100 minutes, not counting time and expense to park, which is often full. Or, I can drive into Boston, which takes maybe the same time or sometimes less, but I can park at my convenience, and I don't have to deal with the hassles.

The commuter rail in my area takes 20-30 minutes to So. Station (20 min if express, 30 min if it makes every stop), I can't drive it in less than 45-60 minutes. Parking is $4 vs. $20-40 in Boston (if every garage isn't already full). No comparison.
 
The worst is if I drive in to Riverside, then take the Green Line. It takes me about 40 minutes to get to the station, then another 40 to get into the city. By the time I pay for Pike, parking, and inbound/outbound train tickets, it would come close to what I'd pay for gas and parking.
 
I can. Driving into Boston and paying for parking takes forever and cost a fortune, making the train or subway from the 'burbs a practical solution.

Depends on how much time you have to waste (eg the calculus of what your time is worth to you) and the circumstances. There's a lot of times where for me to take the T, even though I get free tickets, is just stupid and time inefficient and ends up costing me more money than it would have just driving and hitting a few pre-selected landing spots and paying for offstreet parking. In the more congested areas of town I'll often go half and half- EG, ill get on the T to go "in" and then take an Uber to get out. Thankfully with job #2 all my Boston customers nearly always have a place for me to stash my car when I do onsites, which is imperative because I'm not lugging all
that shit around on public transit... lol.

-Mike
 
The subway lines are pathetically slow, I agree. Commuter Rail is 100x better for time/speed/comfort (not great but compared to the subways/buses it is a lot better). Carrying a lot of gear with me is impractical and when I did computer consulting there was no other option than to take a car.
 
Depends on how much time you have to waste (eg the calculus of what your time is worth to you) and the circumstances. There's a lot of times where for me to take the T, even though I get free tickets, is just stupid and time inefficient and ends up costing me more money than it would have just driving and hitting a few pre-selected landing spots and paying for offstreet parking. In the more congested areas of town I'll often go half and half- EG, ill get on the T to go "in" and then take an Uber to get out. Thankfully with job #2 all my Boston customers nearly always have a place for me to stash my car when I do onsites, which is imperative because I'm not lugging all
that shit around on public transit... lol.

-Mike
Lol
 
I have 23 years of stories about confrontations on the T....

8 to 10 hours a day for 23 years......

I've seen it all..... and I have been gone for a decade now, I am still in touch with a lot of people on the inside, and from what they tell me civility is the exception and not the rule.... they say it is getting worse every day
 
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