To the guy on the train who yelled at me this morning... you can go right ahead and kiss my ass.
I am a fairly friendly person. I chat with strangers all the time, smile at people I run into on the street (that's a literal "run into" not a figurative one), and am generally pleasant whenever possible.
I have my days, of course, that pleasant is the last thing I can be, but I try.
When I get on the jitney, which takes me to the train, I usually greet the driver first.
"Good morning, Daniel! How the heck are ya?" or something to that affect.
He usually replies with an, "I'm blessed," and a, "how are you?"
Once I utter my usual, "I'm well, thanks," I head toward my seat. This exchange takes about ten seconds, enough time for me to walk up the 4 steps of the bus.
I then say, "Morning, everybody," as I make my way down the aisle.
Some mornings I get a semi-enthusiastic, "Morning," from my fellow jitney travelers. Some mornings I get a staccato, "Morning," that comes in unison and reminds me of a kindergarten class saying, "Good-mor-ning-Miss-Gren-fell," in their very tired morning voices.
But most of them at least say something.
The other night as I was taking the jitney from the train toward home, a woman stopped me and introduced herself.
"I'd just like to say how much I appreciate that you say 'Good morning' to everyone when you get on the jitney each day. It's just so nice."
I didn't really know what to say to her so I just said, "Oh, thanks." Totally lame response, I know, but it's what I said.
We proceeded to chat all the way to my stop and we smile and wave when we see each other in the evenings now.
This morning, however, was a different story.
Daniel and I did our usual routine, with the "How the heck are ya?" and the "Blessed."
As I turned to head down the aisle I hear a man say, "Oh, here it comes." He even rolled his eyes.
I looked right at him and said, "Morning, everyone."
"Yeah, yeah," he said, clearly cranky.
The people sitting around him all looked at me like, "Who the hell is this guy?"
I looked back like, "No idea."
We all rode the rest of the way to the train in relative silence, smiling at the new passengers and listening to our music.
At the train station the eye rolling man approached me. He just marched right up to me and stood there, looking.
"Hi," I said, thinking that this would be his cue to speak.
He just stood there, looking at me.
I went back to my music and tried to ignore him. He was, it seems, trying to figure out exactly what to say to me.
"You know... you don't have to say good morning every day. I mean... it's a little ridiculous."
I just looked at him nonplussed.
"Well," said I, "I'm sorry that you find it ridiculous, but I'm going to keep saying it every day. You don't need to listen."
"Are you effing kidding me?" (except he said the whole word). "You mean I have to keep listening to you? Every damned day?"
"Yup. Every. Damned. Day. And I suggest you switch to decaf." Then I smiled at him.
He stormed away as the man standing near us during this exchange said, "What a douche."
I couldn't agree more.
Tomorrow as I get on the bus I will make sure to look for this guy. I will look him dead in the eyes and say, "Good morning, everyone!" in my most chipper way. This jerk will not stop me.
So, to the guy on the train who yelled at me this morning... Pucker up, friend, 'cause you can go right ahead and kiss my ass.
