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Giving your seat up on the tube.

 
  

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Jawsus-son Starship
18:13 / 04.05.06
Little bastard wouldn't quit kicking me. But don't worry, I'm threatening to sue.
 
 
Jake, Colossus of Clout
18:28 / 04.05.06
Alas said: Maybe it was Robby! Maybe this kicking of the WSJ guy happened BEFORE he died! Maybe he and his mom lived in Manhattan just before moving out to Des Moines, and then on to Oklahoma City (in one version, apparently he also fought in Desert Storm)...

You know, it occurs to me that we could write an entire biography of Robbie using insipid e-morality tales.

"The Story of Robbie, a True American Hero." So far, He protects pregnant women from heartless yuppie scum, plays the most beautiful piano ever heard for his poor, deaf mother in heaven, fought for The Greatest Country In The World(!!!) and was taken from us, far too soon, by evil terrorist scum in a cowardly attack against Freedom.

Unfortunately, I don't get these emails. Who has one that would fit into the grand tapestry of Robbie's life? It seems that the protagonist would have to be unnamed (or named Robbie, obviously) and the story would have to be set before the bombing in 1995.

Maybe this should go into Creation, if it has any legs...
 
 
Char Aina
19:28 / 04.05.06
i hear robby spent some time in africa.
apprently he had to leave the country in a hurry, leaving all his money in the hands of an unscrupulous local nobleman.

he's been tryin to get it out the country ever since!
 
 
Dead Megatron
21:25 / 04.05.06
I give my seat in the bus and the tube to the elderly, the pregnant women, the disabled, the sick, the obviously too tired to stand in their feet, people with babies, people carrying to much stuff that can fall down, people who are too short to reach for the handle (that one is rare, only happened once). In fact, come to think of it, I'd probably give my seat to anyone who asked for it politely.

That, of course, doesn't mean I'm a nice guy, only, at most, a polite one. And politeness was invented to make it easier for people to live together. So, it doesn't matter to me if a person *deserves* me to be polite to them, it's supposed to be a given, isn't it.

Plus, I only take the bus ocasionaly, and I'm probably going from work, where I spent the day seated in front of the computer, to home, where I shall seat on a coach and only leave to lay down (that's an extrem form of seat where your whole body does what only your butt does in the tube) on mky bed, so I don't mind a half hour of leg-stretching. And inertia-surfing...
 
 
Sniv
21:47 / 04.05.06
(un)Dead Megatron = the Jesus of public transportation.

Today, a man got on the bus and sat next to me. He smelled really badly of stale cigarettes and unidentifiable booze, so I got up and let him have my seat. How nice is that?
 
 
Dead Megatron
21:56 / 04.05.06
I don't like being compared to Jesus. I mean, we all know what they did to him in the end...

My point is simply that politeness has nothing to do with meritocracy. And to think so, or act as if it had, is a conception flaw that ruins the wole purpose of the idea (i.e. to make the world we are forced to live in a little less shitty). It's a no brainer, really.
 
 
STOATIE LIEKS CHOCOLATE MILK
21:58 / 04.05.06
John- I appreciated it, I really did.
 
 
ONLY NICE THINGS
22:12 / 04.05.06
Alas: Simon Hoggart - son of the more famous Richard Hoggart. I'm not suggesting that he would ever lie, but I feel that he may be taking his friend's experience as more canonical than it might necessarily be. Who knows?
 
 
STOATIE LIEKS CHOCOLATE MILK
22:20 / 04.05.06
Doesn't Simon Hoggart regularly offer up heartwarming emails and round robin letters for mockery?

...and thus the circle is complete...
 
 
Ganesh
22:25 / 04.05.06
Knowing the company Hoggart's kept in the past, I'm just hoping 'Connie' isn't pregnant with a Little Lad - if you get my drift...
 
 
Triplets
22:39 / 04.05.06
no wonder flyboy likes it!

Well he agrees with Frankenstein's shoot-them-in-the-face school of debate.

Are you 10 with big feet and an attitude to match? Maybe you can join the Flysboy Army.
 
 
Whisky Priestess
22:40 / 04.05.06
Couldn't be arsed to read the FIVE PAGES of this thread, so please forgive any repetition, but:

Without wishing to pathologise pregnancy (pace the first page of the thread where Jub says

why should we make a distinction between fat people and pregnant people then? The only reason we are readily willing to give up seats (well some of you anyway) to pregnant women is becuase its 'tough for them' to stand - backache etc.


- but being pregnant very often makes you feel very ill! Ever heard of MORNING SICKNESS? Fancy carrying a GIANT 8lb PARASITE (no offence, parents and parents to be, but the baby does get all its nutrition, vitamins, minerals etc. from the mother while in the womb) around all day, every day? It's a full-time job, my friend ...

But seriously, Jub, I do hope that you aren't forever banished from the company of men (and especially women) for your thoughts on the whole pregnant women = selfish whingeing scum issue. But have a heart, mate. Sometimes men give me a seat on the tube just because I look tired, for goodness sake. (At least I hope that's why ...)
 
 
Char Aina
23:07 / 04.05.06
just dont ever look a man who gives you his seat in the mouth...
 
 
Ganesh
23:24 / 04.05.06
You might want to restructure that sentence, Toksik.
 
 
Mistoffelees
23:34 / 04.05.06
Would it be tasteless to barbequote that?
 
 
The Falcon
23:50 / 04.05.06
I love this thread.
 
 
Char Aina
00:00 / 05.05.06
it was entirely unintendred, i assure you.
 
 
lekvar
00:30 / 05.05.06
This thread. This one right here is why I heart barbelith.
 
 
Mike Modular
00:39 / 05.05.06
Would it be tasteless to barbequote that?

No, I don't think so. Nor would it be tasteless for the receiver of a man's seat in the mouth...

Love this thread to bits.

Almost on topic: I was on the tube today and there were plenty of seats, so I feared no encounters with vigilante 10 year olds, but I was irked by a particular pet hate of bad tube etiquette: Not being given resonable elbow space when you sit next to/between people. I'm always considerate to the spacial needs of those around me, but I often find myself having to squeeze between those who feel the need to maintain their reading area/physical domain, regardless of additional passengers. It's jolly rude! And I would tell them so, if I wasn't such a wimp...
 
 
The Return Of Rothkoid
04:45 / 05.05.06
Oh noes! Robby isn't real! Fuck, now I don't believe in nothin' no more!

Good job, though, as he's nowhere near as heart-rending as this li'l tacker:

The game's already started
When he gets back to the team
And half the crowd can hear his coach yell
"Where the hell you been?"
"Just gettin' ready for the second half,"
Is all he'll say
"Cause now you're gonna let me in to play."

Without another word, he turns and runs into the game
And through the silence on the field
Loudspeakers call his name
It'll make the local papers
How the team came from behind
When they saw him playin' his heart to win

And when the game was over
The coach asked him to tell
What was it he was thinkin' of
That made him play so well
"You knew my dad was blind," he said
"Tonight he passed away"
"It's the first time that my father's seen me play"


As Haus says: Steve Vai, dude.
 
 
Nobody's girl
07:52 / 05.05.06
I thought that seeing's as there's probably only about four people on Barbelith who've actually been pregnant it might be nice for pregnant women to have a chance to reply to Jub's initial post. So I copied it to a thread I started in the pregnancy forum on Mumsnet, enjoy.
 
 
Char Aina
07:58 / 05.05.06
did you ask jub before you did?

i ask because i can imagine reacting quite badly to someone posting my words all over the internet with the specific aim of getting a negative reaction/character assasination.

he was being mean and all, but now so are you.
 
 
Char Aina
08:00 / 05.05.06
sorry, perhaps 'all over' is a bit strong.
the rest of my point stands, i reckon.
 
 
ONLY NICE THINGS
08:00 / 05.05.06
Also, I bet those people haven't even read the Invisibles.
 
 
Nobody's girl
08:01 / 05.05.06
No, I wasn't sure of the etiquette and was posting in a bad mood! Jub, I apologise and if you have any objections PM me an I'll remove it.
 
 
Nobody's girl
08:02 / 05.05.06
That's a pretty safe bet, Haus.
 
 
Evil Scientist
08:02 / 05.05.06
seeing's as there's probably only about four people on Barbelith who've actually been pregnant

Although, oddly enough, the number of people who've carried a giant 8lb parasite is much, much higher.
 
 
Char Aina
08:04 / 05.05.06
is that what that is?
next time i want double.
 
 
Regrettable Juvenilia
08:07 / 05.05.06
I think the issue of what right any of us has to object to something we post on this public forum being quoted elsewhere is a whole other topic for debate, actually.

Well he agrees with Frankenstein's shoot-them-in-the-face school of debate.

All in a day's work...
 
 
ONLY NICE THINGS
08:09 / 05.05.06
Flyboy represents the holistic worldview... this is never going to get old, is it?
 
 
Sax
08:10 / 05.05.06
The weirdest thing about all this is that before this thread I thought Jub was female.
 
 
Jack Denfeld
08:14 / 05.05.06
In fact, come to think of it, I'd probably give my seat to anyone who asked for it politely.
Yeah. It's just a seat, and being nice to people can't hurt.
 
 
Ganesh
08:19 / 05.05.06
I probably wouldn't give my seat to Robby, even if he asked politely.
 
 
Evil Scientist
08:21 / 05.05.06
next time i want double

A 16lb parasite? Okay, you stay there and I'll go get the woodlice and the Enorma-Grow (cure for the common cold).
 
 
Char Aina
08:22 / 05.05.06
I think the issue of what right any of us has to object to something we post on this public forum being quoted elsewhere is a whole other topic for debate, actually.

it would be an interesting topic, for sure.

i'm not for a minute suggesting that nobody's girl is not legally allowed to do what ze did. i just dont think it's going to be anything other than divisive and hurtful is all.
i guess growth can come from pain, huh.
 
  

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