Posted on 04/09/2008 8:22:41 AM PDT by Responsibility2nd
All John Clifford wanted was a peaceful ride to work on the 7:39 to Pennsylvania Station. He would get to the Long Island Rail Road station at Long Beach early every weekday morning, board the train, stake out a five-seat section to rest his bad back, and prepare to read his newspaper and eat his breakfast.
But all around him, there would be chaos. One woman putting on full makeup while listening to her iPod and talking to friends. Another inviting guests to a barbecue and talking about personal problems. Men chatting on cellphones. They were treating the ride as a social situation, he testified in court on Tuesday, forming cliques and getting to know each other by name.
He asked the passengers to keep it down, but the chatter continued. In March 2007, Mr. Clifford had had enough. He shouted an obscenity at a passenger talking on his cellphone and slapped the hand of another, and was arrested. On Tuesday, he found himself in Manhattan Criminal Court, telling his tale.
“I stand up for my right to be let alone,” Mr. Clifford, a retired New York City police sergeant, declared from the witness stand at his nonjury trial on charges including harassment and assault.
To his accusers, Mr. Clifford, 60, was a bully who hogged five seats and had told one passenger, Donna DeCurtis, who had talked loudly, that he knew her name and where she lived, and that “I can make your life hell.” He had been arrested before, the prosecutor said, though, until now, the charges had always been dropped.
After one of those arrests, Ms. DeCurtis testified on Tuesday, “everybody just stood up and applauded.”
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
As do "regulars." Always that way when I commuted by bus.
Those are almost $300. If you want the smaller ear phones, they are about $325.
Maybe if he tried it he'd like it, and be more relaxed in the future.
Those are the Bose Quiet Comfort 2. They are amazing, and worth every penny.
I believe that “ignoring them all” gives them license to kick it up a notch. Nip It In The Bud is my chosen path.
And about that kid with his batlike screech and his Murmuring Daddy? I believe that one day soon Daddy will snap and beat that kid to death, and nobody will be surprised.
The trouble with public transportation is the public. I won’t ride anymore with a bunch of urban thugs.
The guy is a jerk, to be sure. But people have become totally inconsiderate. Even in places where quiet used to be the norm, like churches, libraries, movie theaters, and yes, the classroom, they seem to be in a contest to see who can be the most obnoxious. I have paid good money to see a movie only to have the morons around me chitchatting like they were in their living room watching TV. One person, who had apparently seen the film before, gave a scene by scene narrative to her companion about what was going to happen next. When I politely requested she refrain, she told me if I didn’t like it I should move. I cannot wait for when we can use cell phones in airplanes. The cacaphony of 300 people yakking at once will make a crying baby a welcome noise. People are afraid to stop talking because then they might actually have to think. Can’t have that.
Well... When I said “I ignore them all”, I simply mean I disregard most human behavior as “normal” on a scale from lesser-abnormal to mostest-abnormal.
But, the more abnormal they get though, the more I pay attention and usually make sure to either move away from them, or double check to make sure that I can reach my weapon. lol
"Hero or Bully?"
Well, by reading the other posts I see that I am in the minority in my thinking, and admittedly I don't use public transportation, but that said I'm going with bully. I also think, particularly now that he has had a minor victory in court and is probably more emboldened then ever, that things will not end well for Mr.Clifford.
Maybe I'm completely off base on this, but either he is going to get the idea that he is untouchable and really go off on someone in a much more serious way, or he's going to try something on the wrong person and perhaps not live long enough to wish he hadn't.
Thank you.
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