If you’ve ever had to commute via public transit, you know the struggle: best-case scenario, you get a seat. Maybe you’ll have to stand. In the worst-case scenario, though, you’ll be crammed in like sardines, barely able to breathe.
A TikTok video showing the latter scenario has sparked quite the debate.
RELATED STORIES
Things can get crowded during rush hour.
Tokyo’s mass transit system is famous for having employees whose job is to push people into subway cars. In the west, things might not be quite that crowded on public transit, but that doesn’t mean things can’t become cramped.
“NYC subway be like…”
This is the caption on a TikTok posted by @d.fyp, which is a popular meme page. The video shows a woman pushing herself into the last molecules of space available on an NYC subway car. The doors even close on her before she squeezes herself in.
Things got a little bit testy.
You can’t make out any of the words that were said, but it looks like the woman’s fellow commuters weren’t exactly pleased with the fact that she’d pushed her way onto the train and into their space.
Was she in the right?
The TikTok exploded, getting thousands of comments and views.
Comments ran the gamut from blaming the woman for being a ‘Karen’ to being understanding of how cramped public transit can get to, uh, wondering what would happen if someone farted.
It’s a New York thing.
This commenter was so mad at the prospect of someone theoretically invading their space that they left a vaguely threatening comment, then replied to it twice.
Clearly, people have strong feelings when it comes to this sort of thing.
What really happened?
Some commenters blamed the whole thing on another woman on the train, saying she initiated things with a push.
Whatever happened, it’s clear that the woman getting on the train threw a couple of pushes to make space.
We don’t know her motivations.
She may have been late for something important. She may have been pushy. But unless the woman herself weighs in on the drama, we can’t be sure of why she couldn’t just wait for the next train.
All’s well that ends well.
The video ends with the woman safely inside the train. Everyone is crammed in with hardly an inch to spare, but it doesn’t seem like things came to blows. That’s about the best outcome you could hope for.
How would you handle this scenario?
If you’ve ever had to commute to work via public transit, let us know what you think of this story. When would you push your way onto a train? When might you wait for the next train?
Check out the video below and then share your stories with us!