Metro station or IKEA showroom?

I haven’t seen it in person, but apparently IKEA has taken station domination to a new level. The Nordic furniture company has “furnished” several Paris metro stations for a couple of weeks. Read about it and see a photo here.

To: Mr. too-self-centered-to-notice-anything-around-him; on line 1, direction Vincennes; wearing dark rimmed glasses and a striped shirt.

I’m sure whatever you were reading was SO interesting, but would it have hurt you to glance up when the metro stopped to see if you needed to shift or turn around and face the doors?

I didn’t bump into you several times because I was getting friendly. I was attempting to be considerate and make room for people trying to get on. Rather than say something to you, I thought getting jostled a bit might give you a clue. But apparently not…

Metro Manners

Ladies, in a metro that is packed like a tin of sardines flipping your hair or whipping it about is NOT a good idea. You aren't staring in a shampoo commercial (perhaps in your head, but not in the real world). So before you toss the hair about to flirt with your companion, consider the other commuters within striking distance.

Metro Manners

To my fellow RATP riders - it is generally NOT a good idea to lean on the hand rail when it’s crowded. There are other people who need to hold it without trying to force their fingers between it and your back/side (or backside).

Metro Manners

RATP has implemented a metro sticker campaign in an attempt to keep people from blocking the doors. Roughly translated the 1st sticker says When the signal beeps, I keep away from the doors and the 2nd one 1 second lost in the station = the entire line being late . It's a nice try, but the first time I saw the stickers, I thought – who are they kidding? The only people who will heed the instructions are foreigners and provincials. Parisians will think it doesn’t apply to them, because if they need to hold the doors open, then everyone else will have to suffer.

Metro Manners

I was on the metro on my way to an appointment when, at one of the stops, a middle aged woman yelled to let her get on. I guess people near the door weren’t moving out of her way fast enough. She passed two empty fold-down seats, nudged a lady on the shoulder and told the lady to let her sit down. She said she wasn’t well, she was handicapped.

The lady gave up her seat without a word and went to one of the empty fold-down seats, while the rest of us stared. The handicapped lady kept coughing loudly without making any attempt to cover her mouth. She asked the young man sitting next to her for the time and then argued with him about what time he had said (she thought he gave a time 15 minutes later than he actually did).

Her supposed handicap was not evident, at least I couldn’t see anything physically wrong with her. Perhaps it was mental. But handicap or not, shouldn’t some “basic” manners be commonplace? How much effort does it take to politely ask someone for her seat rather than commanding her to give it up? Or how about sitting in an empty seat?