I was on the train going home from work this evening, nose firmly planted in William Burroughs’ Naked Lunch, when all of the sudden I hear a slightly slurred man’s voice yelling, “ALL CHINESE PEOPLE ARE THE SAME!”

My internal monologue says “Oh great, we have a crazy ranting racist. What’s he going to come out with next?”

He then starts ranting about how it’s the law to give up your seat to an elderly or disabled person if they ask, and pretty blatantly directing it towards a Chinese mother who happens to already be standing, her two young children seated in front of her.

Someone ends up giving up his seat to the old ranting man to shut him up. He thanks them and then keeps ranting, repeating that “All Chinese people are the same!” over and over until eventually he finally shuts up…

Until he gets to his stop, where he yells at the woman again, saying the same things and he walks off the train.

She yells back, “Don’t say that about Chinese people! Can’t you see I have children with me?”

OH, MTA. Never a boring moment.

I’ve learned that sometimes you just can’t follow the logic of the crazy people who end up on the subway.

Because, you know… logic would say that if you’re old or disabled and need to sit down, asking the lady with two squirmy kids to move probably isn’t the person to ask for a seat.

And you know, the fact that she’s Chinese has nothing to do with anything in this situation.

Stuff like this isn’t exactly a daily occurrence, but it’s certainly not an unusual occurrence either. Every once in awhile you run into a crazy who’s got a bug up his (or her) ass about something entirely irrational and decides to let the entire train know about it.

It’s uncomfortable. It’s unsettling. Hell, it’s just flat out sad.

But after awhile you grow used to it… You grow used to staring down in your book or the floor, keeping on your poker face and ignoring it.

And now I fear I’ve frightened you all from visiting NYC again… Oops.