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If You See Something, Say Something
What I Saw Riding Amtrak From Philadelphia to New York
On my last Amtrak journey, this sign was posted everywhere:
If you see something suspicious or unusual say something.
I saw several things on that trip that struck me as unusual or suspicious:
A woman clipping her toe nails in the cafe car.
A dude in a suit hollering business gibberish — mixed with profanity — into his phone at the top of his lungs (oblivious to the impact this was having on his fellow passengers.)
A woman who stretched out across both seats and pretended to be asleep whenever we pulled into a station and people boarded, looking for seats, so that she could hog both seats to herself.
A guy who had taken his shoes off, and was sitting with his grubby bare feet (no socks) sticking into the aisle.
A conductor who responded to every single person who asked her a question with a loud “Good Morning!” instead of answering the question.
A grown man who looked me in the eye as we passed each other in the aisle and said, in a deep, deadpan voice, “Meow.”
A teenager somewhere in New Jersey flipping a bird at the train as it went by.
