"That's a great way to lose an eye..."

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I'm posting this here because I feel a need to divulge an incident which has left me feeling both incredibly violated and utterly shocked at the rudeness that some NT people exude.

Earlier today, on my way home from spending the weekend at my grandmother's house,
I was waiting at the town's bus terminal for a number 41C bus.
Now, I'm not exactly sure how it works in other countries but apparently, at bus stops in Dublin, the public must form two orderly ques.

To the left: A que is for people paying the fare with coins.
To the right, a que for people who use tickets and/or Travel Passes.

Well, today, I noticed that there seemed to be quite a lot of people lining up at the
Coin Paying Que whilst the Tavel Pass que was virtually empty.

Giving that I own a Free Travel Card and there was no que, I immidately went to board the bus as it arrived with my card out to show the driver.
Well, just before I stepped onto the bus, I felt something hard and sharp poke me VERY hard in the back.

Shocked, I turned around and saw a woman standing in the Coin Paying Que looking irrate.
She told me to get to the back of the que has I had apparently "jumped ahead of her".

Since the battery on my MP3 player had just died, I heard her complain first time around so you can imagine my utmost horror when, taking my shocked silence as a sign of ignorence- she leaned forward and PULLED MY HEADPHONES CLEAN OFF MY HEAD before yelling at me to go to the back of the que.

What you must understand is that I'm the sort of person who viciously guards her personal space-a bubble that stretches out to arm lenght around me that requires permission before I'll let anyone breach it.

Had she just pulled off my headphones, I would've punched her square in the mouth for violating my personal space but since I was already in a state of shock owing to being poked quite roughly in my back (which I regard as a private part of my body) this second act sent me into a state of catatonia and I just stood there, frozen to the spot, staring at her.

She then shoved me to the back of the que and wouldn't let me onto the bus until everyone in the Coin Payment que had boarded. Imanaged to gather enough sense to board the bus and sat down on the one remaining lower-deck seat which was directly across from this woman.

For the next 20 minutes, all I could do was stare at her without blinking such was the level of shock I was in. when I got home, I had to lock myself in the bathroom for 15 minutes whilst I sat hyperventilating with my head between my legs.

I'm still pretty shaken but now I'm more angry than shocked.

She had no right at all to poke me in the back, much less pull off a pair of headphones that weren't even being used. I'm aware that the shock from the initial poke could've been misconstrued as me simply ignoring her but it wasn't the case and she wouldn't even let me offer up an explaination.

She just brazenly violated my personal space by touching my back and by touching my personal effects (headphones). Had I been in her position, a simple wave of the hand to get my attention would've been sufficiant enough and then I would've allowed an explaination.

It's a matter of common sense-something this woman clearly lacks. She should thank her lucky stars that her actions shocked me for had I not been in a mild state of catanoia, I'd have poked her right back-
preferably in the EYE and hard enough to BURST it.

Dude, that lady had some serious anger issues it seems. I am really sorry that that happened to you. What a rude git. You possess much more self control than I do.

Do you live near enough to your grandmother's house that you would have heard if the protocol had changed? Maybe it was announced awhile ago. It seems strange that everyone else formed 1 queue unless the authorities had told them at some point that that was the new procedure. They still should have given you the benefit of the doubt - since they don't see you every day, they should realize you might be unaware of the new rules.

I'm sorry you were so violated - first to be assaulted with a weapon, then to have your headset ripped off - outrageous! I would have been taken aback also - what unbelievable arrogance!

Can you contact the department that runs the public transportation? Ours here in Boston has a website and they're very good about addressing any concerns/problems. At the least they can verify the correct procedure so this doesn't happen again.

That is absolutely terrible, the kind of scenario that makes me nervous of going outside. Once I was on a bus (window seat) in London when the woman sat next me (aisle seat) kept leaning over to open the window, which was slamming shut of its own accord. I could not bear this woman leaning over me, so next time the window shut I reached up myself, as I was nearer, and pulled it open with force to keep it open. After I did this, the woman behind me smacked the back of my neck really hard and shouted that I should wear a coat if I was cold, and to leave the window shut. I reacted the same way as you: complete shock. What I could not work out was why she let the other woman be really annoying, but hit me. Perhaps I seemed more vulnerable, an easier target. Maybe the motives were racist. Hitting a stranger in public is diabolical, especially when it is unprovoked, or they are taking their frustrations out on a more vulnerable person.

Even if you had been rude in going to the front of the queue, there is no reason at all to be on the receiving end of violence.

What is the 'correct' response to being violated in public?

I live about 25-30 minutes from my grandmother's house and the bus terminal is a further 20 minutes from her house. Dublin Bus is NOTORIOUS for having absolutely no regard for passenger safety and comfort. The drivers tear down the road like characters from Grand Theft Auto and half the time, if you get to the bus and stand in front of the door just as it's closing, they won't let you on even if you knock and ask politely.

In regards to reporting the incident, let me tell you what happened following another, abiet more serious incident involing a bus:

When I was 16 years old (4 years ago), I had only just started to venture into town on my own. Since I rely on public transport both for economical and enviromental factors, I used to take the 43 route into town. Now, this route also stops 5 minutes away frm my grandmother's house so I also use it to go visit.

Anyways, on this particular day, I was planning to drop into see my grandmother and ask if she wanted to go shopping. Since it was noon on a weekday, the bus was particularly packed.
I felt extremely claustrophobic on the bottom deck but as the bus was infrequent back then (one every hour or so) I decided to head upstairs to find a seat rather than spent ages waiting for a less crowded bus.

So, whilst the bus was still parked (with the engine on, mind) and loading people on, I began the ascent up the flight of stairs to the upper deck. However, just as I put my foot towards the second-last step from the top, the driver-for reasons still unknown to this day-slammed hard on the breaks.

The result? the bus jerked forward so suddenly and so violently that I lost my footing and fell down the stairwell, my right knee hitting every step on the way down despite me grabbing the hand rail to stem the fall.

I wound up in a heap at the bottom of the stairs, bleeding heavily from a lacerated knee and not only did NO-ONE help me up or express any concern about my well being, when I told the driver what happened, he simply stared at me like I'd grown an extra head, shrugged and went back to driving at break neck speed.

I had to cling to a rail for about 20 minutes until the bus pulled up at the stop nearest to my grandmother's house. How I made it to the house, I do not know but apparently, after seeing a doctor shortly afterwards, not only was I in severe shock with a lacerated knee, it was found that it had knocked my knee cap slightly off-kilter.

I also had a dislocated shoulder from where I'd grabbed the handrail, a twisted ankle (same leg as the knee injury) and a severely sprained wrist. It's nothing short of a miracle that I escaped without any broken bones for if I hadn't grabbed for the handrail, I would've ended up cracking my head open.

Sure enough, when my mother phoned Dublin Bus Headquarters to complain about the incident, not only did they sweep the issue under the carpet, they actually DENIED any wrong doing and said that because of lack of evidence owing to the stairwell being a blindspot for the CCTV, the case could never go to trial.

I could barely walk for a month and my wrist was so sprained that even flexing my fingers caued intense pain.
Even to this day, I still suffer from a "floating knee-cap" and acute joint pain in my wrist.

Gawd, thanks for the warning. If I ever go to Dublin I'll avoid the bus like the plague - those people sound like psychos!

That was incredibly rude of her. Okay, she thought you were trying to push in, but even for a queue-freak like me, that's an extreme over-reaction. I think removing your headphones technically counts as assault.

You were right not to push back- would have only lead to more trouble. I'm surprised nobody else stood up for you though.

The thing is in Dublin, the crime rate has spun so out of control that even little 6 year olds are reputed to spit and kick at you if you so much as breathe in their general direction. Because of the crime epidemic, people are afraid of confrontation and of standing up for themselves or their fellow citizen for fear of being shot or stabbed so rather than take the risk-even against some lunatic in a bus que- they all just stare at their feet and try to ignore the issue.

It's sad and it's disturbing but it's the way things are going.

Woah, that lady needs a slap in the face.

Really sorry about both your bus experiences (particularly the 2nd). I can't believe how people behave sometimes.

That woman sounds stupid. She did not even consider the fact that she may be ignorant of something, like the fact that your queue was supposed to go first. Or she could simply be a survival-of-the-fittest kind of person who saw that someone was about to go first and made it so that she could go first.


She had absolutely no right to touch you or your stuff. You have every right to be angry.


I've thought of poking people's eyes out before too.

Had a similar incident today.
I was on the bus home from town-normally I would've walked the 2 miles home but it was raining pretty heavy so I caught the bus heading in my direction.
Anyways, it was packed with people doing the school run so I had to stand on the lower deck which was tramatic enough as people kept brushing against me.

However, one rude little brat (I'm guessing around 10-12 years old) kept shoving me in the back as they clammered to be "first off the bus". I got so agitated that I started hyper-ventilating, thus causing said brat and his indifferent mother to stare at me weirdly.

I got so freaked out I jumped out of the bus at a stop about a mile from my house and walked the rest of the way home. Fortunatly, it had stopped raining but I was still having a full panic attack in the bus shelter.

I think I'll stick to walking everywhere for now. People are just too rude for me to deal with.

You said it.

One time this old guy yelled at me because I wouldn't move further up the bus./ I get paranoid about not getting off the bus in time and my camera bag was behind a seat that I was watching very carefully. It was worth over $3000, so I don't want anything to happen to it. This guy just kept yelling at me to move but I wouldn't. I finally said that I'm staying with my bag but he ignored me.
Another incident on a bus was there were these 3 young guys and one kept harassing an older guy that could flatten him with no effort at all. He even said he'd cut him up but this young guy was too busy being a smart arse to care. Yeah, I sat there frozen. I all happened a feet feet away from me.

I have other stories from being on trains too. Ugh, I hate some people.

The rudeness, over-crowding and general push/shove mob mentality of public transport has now gotten so bad that I am having regular panic attacks on buses if I can't sit down.
If I have to stand and people are shoving and pushing past me, the sensory overload is so much that I can hardly breathe. I'm claustrophobic to an extent but I was never the sort to hyper-ventilate...
...'till now.

I don't know- maybe that horribly rude woman I mentioned in the original post has alerted me to the inherent rudeness of (most of) humanity and subsequent exposure to said rudeness has shocked me so completly that I am no longer able to zone out.