I must look like a very friendly or at least very knowledgeable person because people constantly approach me and ask me for directions when I’m in Boston. And only in Boston. Anywhere else, no one bothers.
Granted, I spend a large amount of my time there, but I’M FROM NEW HAMPSHIRE.
It’s not that I don’t like helping people—I do—but I’m probably one of the worst people to ask for directions, even in Nashua, and I’ve lived there for over 23 years!
Besides, when I’m in Boston, I’m not out gallivanting around the city noting each and every landmark and T-stop just so I can impart the information in my presumably photographic memory to the next passerby who’s just as lost as I am. I’m either in a basement level meatlocker (er, office) or in a classroom. I’m quite stationary.
I know three directions in Boston: Symphony Hall to BU, Symphony Hall to North Station, and Symphony Hall to Alewife.
That’s it.
If you’re not looking for something along one of those routes, I’m afraid I cannot help you!
Now, don’t get me wrong, if I’m the only one around, I cannot fault any poor lost person for asking me for directions (lord help them though if they actually follow them!). I get lost in Boston all the time, so I certainly do understand.
However, that said, there was obviously no need for today’s brief commuting adventure to have ever even happened in the first place.
I was standing in the North Station waiting area minding my own business as I listened to my iPod and watched The Garden security attempt to corral Celtics fans waiting to go to a game (there’s a story all on it’s own!), when a girl comes up to me and asks me where Track 8 is. Sounds innocent enough, right?
Well, of course not!
Let me explain all the things that were wrong with this situation:
1. All the tracks are VERY clearly marked on the doors. All she had to do was look up.
2. No trains were boarding on that particular track at that time nor the 10 minutes before and after this incident (Romantic rendezvous, perhaps?? Track 8 isn’t exactly an exotic locale, but hey, who knows!).
3. I was clearly wearing headphones (gleaming white wires against a black coat is anything but subtle) and I was surrounded by a large number of people who were not. In fact, I was the only one in that area who was.
Yet she still chose me. She came right up, stood directly in front of me, and said:
“Wah, weh, wah, weh wah wah wah?”
Or at least that’s how it sounded over the music blaring into my ears (The Cure also isn’t subtle). Then she looked over her shoulder and looked back at me expectantly. Since she clearly wasn’t going away, I took out my earphones and said “I’m sorry, what did you say?”
She then huffily demanded “Where is Track 8!?”
I simply responded “Over there.” and pointed to Track 8.
Which of course was right behind her.
I think what irritates me most about this is not the fact that she asked me for directions to Track 8 or even her rudeness when I asked her what she had said, but that this is not the first time a person has come up to me while I’m in commuter-mode (Headphones on, book in hand, no eye contact) to ask me a question, despite plenty of other non-headphone wearing people standing around. It happens ALL the time. I’ve had people ask me such ridiculous things as:
Them: “What train did they just announce?”
Me: “Uh, Lowell. It’s the one they just put up on the screen.”
Them: “Where are we?”
Me: “Did you miss the huge North Station sign outside and the one you’re standing next to?”
(OK, I admit I didn’t really say that, but I wish I had. I thought it, if you can count that.)
Them: “Do you know where the Lowell train stops?”
Me: “At all the stations listed on that map conveniently located right by the doors.”
And that’s just naming the recent few I can remember off the top of my head. What are people thinking? What on earth would possess a person to decide to approach someone who clearly isn’t going to be able to hear a word they say over someone else standing right beside them who is headphone-free? And why does this happen to me on a regular basis? Is it just me or does this happen to other people too?
It just seems terribly rude and I really don’t enjoy it.