Short story even shorter: Had a guy try and fight my friend in a subway car. He was holding a baby in his arms and insisted my friend fight him in the car. Not outside on the platform or anything. No, it had to be in the car with a bunch of people. We declined the offer. Because, ya know, we didn't want to fight the guy. But even if my friend for some reason really wanted to get into a fight, with a man holding a baby, it would not be on a subway car. :x

Last Sunday evening I was on the bus and a man came to sit on the other side of the aisle from me, one row onward. Suddenly I heard him say "sorry?" and I looked at him. He was staring at me, so I thought he must've asked me something. People often ask about the bus route if it's their first time on that bus, so I assumed it was something like that. I'm Finnish, but I thought he was speaking in English. (We've adopted the word "sorry" from English so it could've been either language.)

Me: [in English] Sorry? Him: says something Me: Sorry, I didn't catch that. Him: Sorry? [starts speaking in Finnish] What? Me: [also switches to Finnish] Sorry, I didn't hear you. Him: Oh! I was talking to myself. Me: Ohhhh, okay! Nevermind then.

At that point I wondered why he would stare over his shoulder at me while talking to himself. I thought we were done, but then he kept looking at me and...

Him: mumbles something Me: What? Him: continues mumbling Me: smiles nervously Him: What's that badge on your scarf? [I was wearing my Ravenclaw scarf.] Me: It's from Harry Potter. Him: What? Me: From Harry Potter. Him: Oh, Harry Potter.

And then he gave me a fist bump and mumbled a few more lines, but I couldn't make out his words so I just smiled. After a moment he said, "I do speak Finnish." and then he turned away.

It was just so CONFUSING and AWKWARD. Neither of us seemed to have any idea why we were talking to each other and we just kept going??? :D

on the train home from work one day, we got above ground and a woman near me was making a phone call--and I transcribed the whole thing so here it is:

"I'm coming home, don't worry. I'll be there soon. Okay? Listen to me! I'll be there soon. No...no, [kid's name], stop playing with spiders! No, put the spiders back! Don't bring them in the house! Spiders are not pets! No, don't put them a cup! If I come back and there are spiders in the house, you're going to be punished!"

By the time she hung up, everyone around her was in various stages of trying not to laugh. She just looked around and announced, "he's collecting spiders."

Cutest commute ever.

: It's honestly sounds like the guy might have been on some sort of drug. Haha. There are a few stumbling bums where I work, and you know something is up when they start to mumble. Then they get self conscious, and notice they are acting strange. So they act more bizarre to cover up their initial weirdness.

I once had a grown man wet himself while sitting across from me on the bus. He then began to talk very wildly to no one in particular about my Pikachu hat. That was a friggin' awful night!

Hoo boy, hand holding...

So back when I was 18, I accidentally made eye contact with this dude who was probably old enough to be my dad. He took it as some sort of invitation and sat down next to me, said hi, introduced himself as Dennis, and started to hold my dang hand. He was talking to me the whole time but I was in silent panic mode so all I could do was smile and nod... Fortunately his stop came up and he exited the bus after shouting his phone number at me. I didn't call him.

Then there was a guy I just call Creeper Paul. Also old enough to be my dad. Sits down next to me, asks if I've ever gone to see the Rocky Horror Picture Show, cuz I look the type. Okay, so I figure maybe this dude's cool. But then he asks for my number and I'm like AH CRAP but I'm just a wee blossom and don't know how to say no, so I give it to him. Then he calls me. And calls me some more. I answer most of the time to be polite. Eventually he tells me I remind him of his ex who left him because her parents didn't care for her dating a middle-aged man. So uh. Yeah. I stopped answering after that. Not so much a public transportation story as it is an after-transportation story.

while I was waiting for the bus, a man was walking by and seemed amazed by my (dyed) red hair and asked if he could touch it.. I was too shy and nice to say no!! Luckily my friend drove by at the moment and gave me a drive.

In London there was a guy just...eating an egg on the tube. Like the whole egg. Including the shell. That was an odd time

Last year I was sitting on the bus, it was idling at a stop, everything normal... then some guy stepped on, shouted "EBOLA IS A PLAGUE FROM GOD!" and then stepped off again and disappeared while the rest of us on the bus were looking around like ????