Social Experiment

Today A couple of weeks ago on the train... it had been raining pretty heavily for Los Angeles. I sat down in the seat closest to the window and realized that the open seat next to me had a leak dripping on it from the ceiling. Being the nice person that I am knew that meant that I would have to tell everyone that tried to sit there my entire trip that the seat was wet.


I did just that. As each person positioned themselves to sit I stopped reading and gently touched them on the arm to tell them that there was a leak on that seat and they would quickly move.


I should mention at this point that a woman had sat down kitty corner to me. She was scantily clad with a mini skit, no tights and flip flops. This outfit was not very appropriate for the frosty temperatures outside. She was also very fidgety, leg wiggling, toe tapping, etc.


Ok, back to my acts of kindness, I was getting tired of telling everyone about the wet seat. I didn't want to stop because I worried that the people around would wonder why I told all those other people but didn't tell the next person. I know that sounds silly. Why would the people on the train care what I was doing? But I worried about it. I still decided to stop telling people. I needed to get my reading done.


Of course at the next stop, a young female medical student dressed in scrubs sat down, and I said nothing. I could see the fidgety woman look at me like "hey, why'd did you stop?" The medical student quickly realized that the seat was wet and drops of water were hitting her head and she got up.


At the next stop another person sat down, this time the fidgety woman chimed up and let them know that there was a leak. I glanced up and smiled at her. She continued the act of kindness the rest of the way.