A few months ago, I wrote a story for the Mercury: “You’re Riding the Bus Wrong.” A lot of people read it! AND YET: A lot of people are still riding the bus wrong.
Let us be clear. Riding the bus wrong is a shameful blight that gnaws at the heart of Portland, spreading its corrupting rot through the very streets—the veins, if you will, the arteries—that make up our city.
Yesterday, my friends, a young woman contacted me. She was distraught at something she had seen that very morning; she was angry because of something she witnessed on the 15 line. Because Katie, who takes the 15 daily, had seen someone riding the bus wrong. And it wasn’t the first time.
“This was actually the second time I have seen him doing this,” Katie reports. “He did it last week but I wasn’t close enough to take a picture. He sat in the back of the bus with his feet up on the perpendicular seat manspreading AND getting the dirty soles of his shoes on the armrest. And THEN his backpack was taking up the full seat in front of his feet! As the bus was getting closer to downtown, it filled up per usual. People stood up in the back of the bus in front of him, but he did not move his backpack until a gentleman who was standing asked him if he could sit there.”
This is Katie’s story, and let us thank her for sharing it.
Let us also usher in a brave new moment in the Mercury‘s non-award-winning you’re-riding-busses-wrong coverage: #BusShame. This is the hashtag that brave Katie used when telling me how she had witnessed this horrific miscarriage of bus-riding citizenship; this is a hashtag that we can all use.
Because together, we can maybe—just maybe—make busses slightly less shitty to ride. Because together, we can perhaps—just perhaps—improve… our commutes? Our city? Our world? Our very galaxy?
Who knows? Not me. I can’t tell the future.
“People stood up in the back of the bus in front of him, but he did not move his backpack until a gentleman who was standing asked him if he could sit there.”
I mean, there’s a 99 percent chance that this guy sucks, but if all that it took for him to move his bag was, you know, being asked, I’m not sure Katie has a very valid complaint.
Did no one else notice that the two visible words in the photo are “soft dicks.” (Yeah, yeah, I know there’s an apostrophe in Dick’s, but that fucks up the already pretty lame observation). Also, Jesus Marcia. Chill.
It’s not exactly “public shaming” if you don’t show his face. Public shaming requires full identification, e.g., “Erik Henriksen is the managing editor of the Portland Mercury but he doesn’t know how to spell ‘buses’ properly.”
@Marcia Granbois: The point is, you shouldn’t have to fucking ask people not to be selfish little self absorbed pricks, because people should be smarter than fucking fifth graders and not be selfish pricks. Do people have to ask you not to do this? If yes, fucking WHY, and if no, then maybe you might get the difference, yes?
How come I don’t get shamed? I want to be shamed too! I always take up two seats because my bag deserves a seat too! I also regularly fart on the bus! So why am I not being shamed?
Passive aggressive people really suck. Learn to say “hi can I sit there.” Its THAT EASY. Also I agree that Erick Henrickson could fairly be called an attention seeking dipshit in this scenario.