Doorcrashers

When you take transit a lot you start to notice things you probably wouldn't otherwise notice. Things like how long the metro doors stay open; extended waits at station stops (that inevitably make you miss your connection and therefore be late for work). You begin to recognize people. People that make you smile, and others that you want to avoid. You witness habits of others; peculiar and equally annoying. The most annoying habit of any transitite (my moniker for those who take transit everyday) is something that I like to call door crashing. Now, for those unaware, there are three kinds of door crashing, and thus, doorcrashers.

The first kind of doorcrasher is perhaps the most abundant and in my opinion the most rude. These are people who force themselves into the metro car before those already in the metro car have been permitted to leave. Now, before I start pointing fingers at any of you doorcrashers, I am sure all us transitites can admit to having taken part in this act at some time or other (yes Kat, I know). This admission however, does not make you a doorcrasher. Not if you were immediately aware of your crime following entrance and if your crime made you feel remorseful. A real doorcrasher is completely oblivious to anyone around them and are focused on one thing and one thing only- getting on the metro. They move in a trance-like state, shoving through anyone and anything in their path. They are, in lesser terms, despicable people.

The second kind of doorcrasher is not nearly as bad and quite frankly an offshoot of the first kind. These are people who are already in the metro wanting to leave but they can't because the first kind of doorcrasher will not permit them to leave in their own furry to get on the metro. It is really frustrating to be the second kind of doorcrasher, because an otherwise non violent person (me) being put in this scenario could potentially be forced to commit an unkind act (shoving, elbowing, cursing, kicking, poking, hair pulling, ok not hair pulling). Even more frustrating is that becoming the second kind of doorcrasher happens not by choice but as a product of the surrounding environment. Now if we can improve on the environment by reducing the first kind of doorcrasher, we can then in turn eliminate the second kind altogether.

The third kind of doorcrasher is really of the innocent, but extremely annoying variety. These are people who are quite clearly misguided in life and are in a rush to get nowhere fast. To explain, these are people (usually bus transitites) who get up and walk to the door miles before the bus has reached its final destination. Take for example the bus I am forced to ride everyday after work. This bus is what we like to call in Montreal a 'Metro Bus', meaning: it goes to the metro, its final destination - for everyone. Well, if you are the third kind of doorcrasher you get up and stand at the door a good 5-10 minutes before the bus even reaches the metro. Why do you do that??? It is really annoying for those who enjoy sitting at the front (me), because all of a sudden I no longer have my freedom and am instead smothered by doorcrashers all around me, lined up waiting to get off the bus that won't reach its final destination for a good three or four blocks. Really annoying. And what's even more annoying, is they get nowhere faster than I! I still meet them down on the metro platform.

So there you have it. A lesson on the finer observances of daily transit life. Now if we could just work on being a more patient and kind society, we could eliminate the existence of doorcrashers for good.