Impatience, NY

If there was to be a study on impatience in human beings, New York City would be the place to conduct it.  People are so impatient here.  It is unbelievable.  Everywhere you go, everything that comes up is an opportunity for people to show how impatient people are.

Perhaps it's the fast pace of the city that never lets up.  Perhaps it's the fact that everyone here is trying to accomplish so much.  Whatever it is, impatience is everywhere, and it deserves to be looked into.

One of the greatest places to observe impatience is on the Subway.  On any given day, the Subway is pretty crowded, and people are mixed in everywhere.  They have moved several times in the course of their transit, and may be in a different spot than when they started.  So, when it comes to their stop, they will do anything to rush through the crowd and get to the door.  It's important to realize that, when the doors open, there is ample time for the people inside to shift positions (the ones they've been trying so hard physically to hold in place as the train has been moving).  Despite that fact, the people who are trying to get to the door will excuse themselves over and over, in an attempt to get past and stand in front of the door.

"Excuse me, excuse me," they'll say.  They are trying to be polite, but in effect, they are doing the opposite, because they really are just causing a fuss over a very small problem.  And it always seems like the more people say excuse me, the more they seem entitled to be standing where you are standing.  The fact that they say "excuse me" so many times makes them decent human beings, because they are trying to get to where they want, but at least they are being polite about it.

I don't buy it.

Even if they say "excuse me," it doesn't get us anywhere closer to the train stop, and it doesn't give them any less time to get out the door.  They are going to have plenty of time to exit the train, and who knows, maybe some of the people standing in front of them will want to leave, too.  They never think of that.

Also on the Subway there are times when trains get delayed or slow down without notice.  Sometimes the trains will come to a halt and the passengers just have to wait until it gets moving again.  It's just part of how the train system works.  Sometimes it gets congested, and sometimes passengers have to wait.

What gets me, though, is that when these things happen, the people around you get visibly frustrated.  They sit there and get a little more wound up, thinking intensely about why they are not moving closer to their destination.  But it isn't until after the train conductor or the automated voice makes the announcement that our train is "delayed momentarily -- please be patient," that you hear them sigh very loudly.  They wait and hold their sighs in until after the announcement is made.  Sometimes it will even be a few minutes between the halting of the train and the announcement.  We will all sit silently, waiting and listening for an announcement of some kind.  They will hold their sighs in, and then after the announcement is over, out it comes.  Sometimes a muttering under the breath accompanies it as well.

Drivers are the worst, though.  They have no patience at all.  Drivers in New York will wait at a traffic light and the second it turns green will start honking.  They don't waste any time at all.  In New York, green = honk.  Going is an afterthought.

Impatience is everywhere.  It can be seen in lines, on the street, in traffic.  It's all about how people react to it.  Nobody ever looks at the bright side of being held up, but it's a great way to meet people.  When people are forced to do something they don't want to, it's the best way to see their true character.