Applause on the Subway platform

Yesterday, after work, I entered a very crowded 51st and Lexington train station to find the 6 train was running on one of those “due to an earlier incident” type schedules. It was one of those times that as I am waiting, I'm not even looking for the next train but hoping that the train after the next one will have room for another human.

The next train did, eventually, arrive and I did not even try to board. But the sight of no reasonable room did not stop the joker in front of me from plowing his way on as half the car yelled at him, "there's no room!" It was comical in the fact that the first time the door tried to close, the only part of him that was inside the train was an arm and the toes of his shoes. So, instead of stepping off like any other normal person would, he just pushed harder until he was approximately 80% of the way in.

If you are not from New York, the thing is the subway will not move unless all the doors are completely shut. When they will not completely shut the door that does not shut will continue to reopen and close until it succeeds as a “ding dong” sound is played over the speaker. Well, in this situation, the back of this mans coat continued to get caught in the door. After five repetitions of doors reopening and closing, the train was still stopped in the station for only this reason. Keep in mind, I am surrounded by a large angry mob because the trains are already so behind schedule and the next train can not pull in until this one departs (obviously).

So, as this one train door opens again I calmly say, "excuse me," to the woman in front of me, walk up to the back of this mans coat and I use my index finger to push his coat inside the train to the point I am poking this man in the small of his back. As the door closes I remove my finger at precisely the right moment when the coat will not jettison back out while also allowing my finger to escape without impeding the closure of the door or losing a glove. Success on the first try!

What happened next might be one of my favorite things to ever happen since I moved here and certainly my favorite moment in the subways: there was laughter and applause. Honestly, everyone that witnessed this was laughing and applauding me and when I turned around to face them I actually took a bow and the applause surged. Now, this lasted for about a grand total of ten seconds. But, if there is a tougher crowd to please than angry New York City subway riders during the evening winter rush hour, I would like someone to tell me.