A dreaded thing occurred yesterday. It's the chance you take when you travel public transportation at 3:30 in the afternoon. I was all set up on the commuter train to go out to the burbs to give a lesson. Had my coffee and my book and a padded seat by the window. The only other passenger on my car was knitting, the ticking of her needles mimicking the clack of wheels on track. The bright sun glimmered off of meter long icicles hanging from the eaves of passing buildings and I thought about how lovely it is to travel by train above ground. The train stopped and a mob of uniformed teenagers entered the car. What's bigger than a mob? Because this felt like the entire high school had boarded my car. Suddenly, it was 25 years ago in the cafeteria on a rainy day. The cacophany of excited hormone-oozing teenagers was harshing my mellow in a big way. I felt all Jane Goodall as I pretended to read and listened to the snippets of excited conversation around me. There were those posturing for attention with antics and slurs. There were the wannabees and the wallflowers, insecurity the common motivator of behaviour. There were at least 8 "fucking faggot" comments that I heard and I felt rage at the way these "kids" behaved as if they were the only people on the train. I've seen this before, no adults who know them are around, and they behave differently than I imagine them at home or in school. Differently as in obnoxiously.
And it depressed me. Seriously, it felt like I was with monkeys. Petty, insolent monkeys. And then I thought about how they will be running the world one day and how we adults are really just like them, we just learn to hide the motivation for our behaviour.
I took note of the car I had chosen and will be avoiding it for the rest of the session. I feel like I've passed my first test on the way to becoming Cranky Old Man.
23 comments:
Whether we like to admit it or not, most of us were once like that also.
But, having said that, welcome to the COM Club. I've been a member for many years, but it's always nice to welcome new faces.
So, just sit down and shut up. We like our peace and quiet here at the Benign Oder of COM. :)
I feel your pain. The second test is going to the doctor who is younger than you. Have you had that one yet?
I like the energy of teens. It cracks me up. I often have a crowd come onto the streetcar. Mind you, they are younger (12-13) so maybe they aren't quite as obnoxious. I did get annoyed once when I was on a bus and a bunch of Catholic school kids crowded near the front and took up all the seats, even though a few elderly people entered the bus and had to stand.
Not "cranky," CROTCHETY. It's more fun.
And don't worry - you're not alone in this.
Honestly, when I'm in a situation like that, I'm tempted to wander through pointing out their predicted futures: "You're the closet-case, protesting too much! You'll be the rich one that all the women want. You'll be the homeless guy. You'll be sucking dick to pay your rent. You...." you get the picture.
:)
what about the pongy smells as well.
I agree with St Dickeybird ... CROTCHETY. Although I guess you can decide between CROTCH or CRANK ... it's 50/50 there.
Maybe it's the moon ... I'm extra crotchety/cranky this week (and feeling older than usual as well).
Sarah Kendall is an Aussie stand up I've seen a couple of times here ... she's got a great routine about schoolgirls on busses. If she ever makes it to Montreal, go see her.
LOL @ Dickey! Crotchety!
This is too funny. I was about to blog something very similar to this but worried that I'd come across as a grumpy old man.
It had me thinking. What other species has their "children" make so much bloody noise? Chicks were the only thing that come to mind and they just want to be fed by a "bird brained" parent.
One last thing... let's make ritalin the new Flintstones vitamins.
When I was 23 and commuting to Jackson Hole on the bus from the valley, I was set upon by just such a group of kids. They no more than 18 or 19 and I only 4 or 5 years their senior; this was blood in the water to these sharks. The bus driver could hear since I could see everyone in the bus looking back at me after hearing what these little monsters were saying. I've never wanted to disappear more in my life. Not one person said anthing and this was a commuter bus so some of the people traveling were in their 50's. I know that this experience turned me into the emotionally bitter queen I sometimes am/are/be when I write or comment. And the worst yet is the fact I've never been in a fist fight, never defended myself. So perhaps what I'm truly angry about is my powerlessness in the face of so much hatred.
Yet I love men, the look, the feel, the walk and talk of men. Am I sleeping with the enemy?
kb
Teenagers always make me nervous.
I was born a Cranky Old Man -- My body is just waiting to catch up.
most things i say nowadays make me feel old. but when i was a kid (groan) and even when i was out with a bunch of other kids, we knew how to behave. we may have been a bit more rowdy than if our parents were there, but we still had that innate sense of the way to act. then again, those nuns were pretty scary so i suppose i can understand.
situations like the one you endured always leave me feeling ancient and judgemental and sneering, kids these days!
Congrats on passing your first COM test.
When you graduate to Crazy Old Guy Down the Street, let me know and we'll plan an afternoon to go shopping for sweater vests and adopting hordes of feral cats.
That kind of behavior always gets my blood boiling, and I have to hold myself back from starting something. In that situation, I'd have been afraid. And sad. The next generation was supposed to be more tolerant.
i was envisioning barbara parkins in "Valley of the Dolls" on the train ride and then the teenagers appeared... ugh... these kids are being raised by the people we went to high school with... and you're surprised by their behavior? lol... welcome to cranky old manville...
Teenagers are just walking balls of insecurity, that insecurity manifests into some very unpleasant behavior. I think at some point we all stop trying so hard to be liked and be cool and realize that we actually become a lot more liked and a lot cooler once we stop trying so hard. I like teenagers one on one, but once there are more than like three of them together everything goes to shit.
At any age, large groups of youngsters crowded into mass transit is a nightmare. I get shanghai-d by groups on school trips all the time. Even with teachers present, it's miserable. There was a group last week, and one boy was just asking for trouble, refusing to hold onto a pole, despite repeated reprimands, so he wouldn't fall over and continually bumping into people consequently. I was tempted to holler at him but my stop arrived before I worked up to it.
Welcome to my daily world.
Well, not exactly; I have the Teacher-Power at school. Problem is, I'm so used to telling kids what to do, that when I'm in public, I tend to correct them too.
Doesn't work too well outside of school grounds with kids I don't know.
It's the loud. The LOUD part of a group of teenagers that is just so crazy inducing.
Why, oh why are they so fucking loud?
Hey Torn, you can join me and Dirk in the COGDTS Club just repeat these lines: Hey, you kids get off my lawn! Well, it's my ball now, youngins'! Turn that crap down, in my day folks knew how to sing! And last but not least: I'm calling the cops you bunch of hooligans!
Cranky Old Man? I would have felt the same. I especially dislike having created my space, my nest, only to have it destroyed by "monkeys" or baboons or any creature.
I believe that I am becoming a Cantankerous Old Man.
Am I the only one who actually possesses one of these unfortunate creatures?!
That being said, all teenagers aren't all bad, you just happened to run into a pack of obnoxious ones. We were all the same, BACK IN THE DAY, although we would be hard pressed to admit it now.
-happened to me once a couple of summers ago... Italian teenagers
-one kept pulling the stop cord for no reason
-eventually I said something... not before I got several good looks at his nicely-toned arm! LOL
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