Happy New Year to my approximately 4 readers!
I’m back to work this week, which means riding the Skytrain (Vancouver’s elevated commuter train).
It seems to be fashionable to sneer at people who aren’t fascinating and sociable during their daily commute. I was at a party just last week where a conversation dwelled upon how much more interesting a couple of homeless people were than all the grim stiffs in better clothes. How much better our world would be if everyone were chatty on the bus!
This kind of thing infuriates me.
Speaking only for myself, as an introvert and decidedly not a morning person, the idea of making witty and exuberant conversation with random strangers on the train is acutely stressful. I’m not a type A person, brimming with energy all day. I frankly prefer to save my stress for when I’m getting paid for it, in order to keep a roof over my head and food on my table.
I know it’s hard for extroverts and the television generation to understand, but entertaining you is fairly low on my list of priorities when I’m on the bus.
So next time you sneer at all the uptight sheeple going to work, consider that not everyone is a student or artist with a varied and interesting schedule. Some of us spend 9 or more consecutive hours a day at jobs that require a degree of concentration and energy, and wasting that energy on you would actually be detrimental to our livelihoods.