On my way home from Salsa class, I got on the 2 train at 14th St. The train was a bit crowded but it cleared up a bit at 34th St. I managed to get a seat then. I must’ve been tired from working on Sunday, today’s running around at work, then dance class, because I failed to notice the odd young girl (teen? woman?). She was reading a thick book with the cover ripped off & the pages had water damage. She was eating a strawberry ice cream pop, in a disgustingly perverse sucking manner. Her hands were dirty with crusty nails.

That’s when her nauseating scent of stale cheap chocolate & unwashed body hit me. It was SO bad I to focus on my breathing to avoid throwing up. I don’t know what was worse: how crusty her hands were & the ice cream dripping on them, the way she was eating her ice cream, or the way she smelled. I couldn’t take it, I got off at 42nd St & waited for the next train. That type of smell sticks & I didn’t want to take that home with me.

Feel free to post comments of share similar experiences, whether in NYC or elsewhere.
~Izzy

Last Monday, I visited my parents after work. When I got on the Bronx-bound 2 train I quickly sat in the first available seat, knowing that it would be a long, crowded ride. What I failed to notice was the reason that seat was available. No one wanted to sit next to the overweight, blubbering drunk. He kept staring at an African-American woman sitting in front of us, mumbling in slurred Spanish. “Porque me ‘ta mirando?” “Why is she staring at me?” “Tan fea que e’” “She’s so ugly”. He kept repeating himself in intervals, like a scratch record. I just thought, crap, now I’m stuck next to this drunk fool, for God knows how long. Luckily he got off at 96th St, but he left with a bang. The bang of the door closing on him twice before he managed to stumble our of the car, lol.

Feel free to post comments or share common experiences, whether in NYC or elsewhere.

~Izzy