posted
So what is the most rude thing you have experinced on a train? I have 2 for starters.
The first is on the train down the Hudson River to NYP. In the seat behind me is a you ng woman having a fight with her mother via cell phone. She would hang up on her mother then call a friend to talk about it, then call waiting would go off and it was her mother again. This went on for about 20 minutes until I packed up and changed cars.
So I get my new seat making sure that there are no cell phones near by and within 10 minutes I smell acetone. Real strong. The woman behind me is doing her nails and gaging me. I turn around and look over the seat and without a word she packs it all back in her hand bag. What is wrong with these people.
OK next one is kind of amusing. I am southbound on the adirondak and the kid behind me has one of these nextel walkee talkees. A woman who is apparently intimate with him calls him and they fight about why he didn't spend more time with her. Best part is you could hear both sides of the conversation with the walkee talkee feature. It was brilliant! Of course if my stop was not 15 minutes away I am sure I would have gotton annoyed.
So how bout it? Any tales to tell?
Jon
coachclass Member # 2382
posted
Once on the Three Rivers we had a man in our car who snored louder than I ever thought was humanly possible. It sounded like a chain saw and he kept snorting and making other strange noises. The coach attendant tried to politely wake him up several times to tell him, but he would just fall right back to sleep and snore again. Luckily I got off in a few hours, but the girl next to me had to ride all night and I thought she was going to go crazy!
Geoff Mayo Member # 153
posted
A little "present" on the restroom floor. Let's just say it was brown...
On the same trip, the car attendant that told me to go to the back of the line while patiently waiting to board in Orlando (this was the Meteor). I still don't know what I did wrong.
Couples talking to each other loudly at 5am when they've woken up, and expect the rest of the car to be awake as well.
Geoff M.
CoastStarlight99 Member # 2734
posted
This was a great post Idea
Once on the coast starlight there were two teenager (20) behind us and they would not stop cussing! It was really annoying on a ten hour trip with lots of delays. They sure didnt keep there thoughts to themselves. "I'm calling F******* Amtrak to get my money back" so these low class losers were real messed up. But, I spent most of my time in the Lounge/Dining car/Cafe so everything was cool. Also once a lady next to us on the Surfliner had about 4 beers in an hour at around 11am....I am suprised they were serving that early..LOL
-Anton.. Keep thease stories coming people
Konstantin Member # 18
posted
It sounds like CoastStarlight99 and I could have been on the same train, except there were three teeneagers in my case. Every four letter word I can think of was said repeatedly.
[This message has been edited by Konstantin (edited 10-19-2003).]
Southwest Chief Member # 1227
posted
I remember a trip on the Southwest Chief that involved a surely attendant. I was in the dining car and asked the attendant if she could bring our table some rolls. She quickly said in a harsh tone "I don't serve you!" It turns out she was a coach attendant. But she didn't have to address our table like that. Always wondered why she was in the diner so long if she was a coach attendant.
Another kind of funny/gross incident occured on yet another Chief trip. I think we were stopped at Winslow AZ and myself and another passenger were enjoying the crisp air and beautiful Harvey House while we were in the vestibule of our sleeping car. Then a guy came out of one of the lower sleeping rooms completely naked! He started to walk down the hall. Maybe to the luggage rack to get some clothes? I don't think I have ever gone up Superliner stairs as quickly as I did then. The other passenger quickly left too.
mr williams Member # 1928
posted
Funny you should mention Winslow AZ, because I was on the SWC a few weeks ago when we were delayed at Winslow so that a couple could be put off by the police. As far as anyone knew they hadn't met each other before that day, but he had brought aboard a copious private stock of alcohol which they started to consume in the lounge car. They were politely asked to desist (as drinking your own liquor is forbidden except in sleepers)and they went back to their Coach car, where they resumed their drinking session and started getting rather "intimate" with each other. Apparantly she was a "dancer" of some description (never heard it called that before)and the performance got so XXX-rated the train manager called a halt and had them removed!! ps. nearly finished the travelogue, will post it asap
Konstantin Member # 18
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I rode the Southwest Chief from Flagstaff to Chicago. In Raton, a group of Boy Scouts got on our train. They were the rudist group of people on the train. They trashed the lounge car. When a couple of older Amish women were moving too slow for them, they bolted in front of them very rudely. In Chicago, they were sticking stickers on other people's baggage and behaving loudly and rudely. When they were told to leave the baggage area, everyone else cheered. I thought Boy Scouts were supposed to be "Trustworthy, Loyal, Obedient..."
A couple of weeks later coming home, a new group of Boy Scouts were in our car. They were completely the opposite. They were polite the entire trip. I told them and their leader about our previous experience. I also told them that it was nice to see that there still are Boy Scouts who practice what they preach.
posted
Carolinian, in Coach: A mom and her toddler girl were riding together. The little girl used mom's nail polish bottle to go "bang-bang-bang-bang" on the tray table for an extended period of time, while mom beamed at her daughter while yakking on her cell phone. Train was full & Business Class was sold out!
San Diegan, in Coach: College-age kids talking smack and laughing and cussing loudly...there was gas coming out both ends...train was full (this was pre-Metrolink)
MP
dilly Member # 1427
posted
quote:Originally posted by Konstantin: I rode the Southwest Chief from Flagstaff to Chicago. In Raton, a group of Boy Scouts got on our train.
According to several crew members I've met on the Southwest Chief, Boy Scouts have been responsible for some of the petty thefts (CD players, cameras, etc.) that sometimes occur in the coaches.
And I once spotted a "kid in uniform" attempting to carve his name into the wall of a sightseer lounge.
As I recall, I promised to rip his arm off if he didn't stop. He stopped.
UncleBuck44 Member # 2049
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quote:Originally posted by dilly: As I recall, I promised to rip his arm off if he didn't stop. He stopped.
Thats always a good way. If they dont stop when asked politly then just threaten to rip off their limbs. I think i'll try that the next time someone does that.
UncleBuck44 Member # 2049
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quote:Originally posted by mr williams: (as drinking your own liquor is forbidden except in sleepers)
I did not know that. Here is something funny that happend to my mom. We were going from STL to San Antonio and on the return leg my mom had to get a small bottle of wine so that she could get to bed(she really has trouble going to bed on trains but she still loves them). So all of us thought bringing alcahol on board was illegal, so my mom slipped it in her purse because she had it anyways and that night we noticed that it smelled like wine in our bedroom and realized the bottle bursed open in her purse. Had we known its OK for sleeping car passangers to have alcahol, then she could have enjoyed the wine.
JonA Member # 2690
posted
mpalmer,
Your first story is my worst nightmare, which I have been through on planes and trains. Why does this always happen to me?
Your second story.....what is talking "smack"?? I am not familar with that.
Great stories all, keep em coming.
Jon
amtraxmaniac Member # 2251
posted
OK-two stories: First I was on the San Joaquin #716 Southbound and my wife and I sat in front of these two hispanic ladies who were eating something that, for one, smelled horrid and worse, they were smacking so loud it was deafening. This persisted from Fresno all the way to Bakersfield. CHOMP!CHOMP!SSSP!SSSP!CHOMP!SSSP!CHOMP!CHOMP!SSSSP! You get the point? SMaking is one of my wife's biggest pet peeves and she just about nearly strangled the two. Worse, she couldn't ask them to desist nicely because neither of them spoke a lick of english.
Second: I was on the CS #14 right around Chemult. In front of me was a woman on a cell phone (oh, God another rude cell phone user story..well, no she was just ridiculously funny). Anybody who knows this part of the route knows there's about 10 or more tunnels. Every time we went through a tunnel, here cell phone would go dead and she would mutter "F**k!". This persisted until she figured out after about the fourth time of it going dead and numerous people trying to explain that it wasn't her "piece of sh*t cell phone battery", she asked the coach car attendant every 5 minutes when we would be through all "these damn tunnels". And muttered to herself "You would think by now Amtrak would have the technology to just blow these mountains out of the way...God!"
Stupidity would be amusing, if not so tragic!
Patrick
RRRICH Member # 1418
posted
I could bore y'all with hundreds of stories from my 25+ years of riding AMTRAK. But more recently - a couple years ago I was on the Capitol Ltd from WAS to CHI and there was a young man in the Sightseer Lounge obviously trying to "pick up" a young blonde woman who obviously had 0 interest in this guy. I was sitting next to them doing my regular map following and videotaping, and this guy kept looking at me and saying stuff like "She (meaning his 'friend') wants to know where we are now," or "'she'" wants to know if we are on schedule," etc. -- I don't quite understand that, but the guy soon angrily left the woman (much to her delight!), but later he showed up again sitting across from me in the diner with yet a different woman, and spent about 15 minutes arguing with the waiter about "what difference does it make whether I'm in coach or sleeper if I get a free meal." Thankfully, the guy got off in Cleveland overnight.
Then there was a guy many years ago on the Southwest Chief who approached me in the hi-level lounge car (pre-Superliner) who swore I was a "spy" or that I "worked for the government."
Then a few years later, also on the Chief, a weather-beaten homeless-appearing man was wandering around the train, and once some one looked at him and he screamed "DON'T LOOK AT ME LIKE THAT WITH THOSE BIG BLUE EYES." Later I saw the same man laying on a bench in one of the old-style single-level coach bathrooms (when they were called "gentlemen's lounges") fast asleep.
Then there was the guy on the Empire Builder who was wandering around with a dazed look in his eyes all the way from Seattle to Grand Forks, before he was finally taken off the train by AMTRAK police for drugs.
And the stories go on and on............
Geoff Mayo Member # 153
posted
The phone story reminds me of a little known but obvious fact: What's the most common last words said on a mobile/cell phone? Hello! As in "blah blah blah... Hello?...Hello?...HELLLLOOO?"!
Another silly thing one woman did. On the SW Chief at Albuquerque. *** and handler (ATF?) comes aboard, *** sniffs around the bags and picks one out. Call goes out on the PA system "would the owner of the blue Nike bag please identify yourself". She comes downstairs and, much to her surprise, walks straight into the handcuffs and is carted off!
Geoff M.
MPALMER Member # 125
posted
quote:Originally posted by JonA: mpalmer,
Your second story.....what is talking "smack"?? I am not familar with that.
Jon
"Talking Smack" is basically saying rude and insulting comments, and some could be considered fighting words. It is sometimes "the liquor talking" but in this case it was more like bullying behavior by a small group of people.
Mike Smith Member # 447
posted
Actually. talking smack is like telling one group that your group is better and will perform in a manner to show that your group is better and their group is worthless.
I play in paintball scenario games and there is a ton of smack talk prior to a game.
Here's an example. Over Memorial Day this year, 43 Texans went to EMR in northeast Pennsylvania to compete against RTD, a scenario team that had NEVER lost a scenario game. They told us that Tea drinking, Skirt wearing, Poodle walkers need not apply....and Oh Yea, Better Bring your "A" game!!
We SMOKED them! We set records smoking them. We told them we left our "A" game in the hotel on Sunday to give them a small chance to catch up.
Their smack talk didn't work out well for them. Our's did!
ozarksjoe Member # 2200
posted
The cell phone menace. Oct 16th SWC eastbound, boarding at Fullerton, started out peacefully. About Riverside car attendant parked a young man behind me, saying, 'this should be better for you' (that was an 'early warning') Cell calls started. The guy was the type who shouted into the phone, some calls in Spanish, some in unaccented English. I put in ear plugs and kept reading. Finally I guessed we were getting out of range of his friends because the hour of talking had stopped for maybe 30 minutes. Suddenly a call came in and he figured he needed to shout even louder maybe because we were further from L.A. Lights were dimming, people leaning back with pillows. I got up, glared at him and said quietly, 'you're waking people up'.
He look scoffingly at me and said, 'I'm on the phone, man'. Fortunately I had planned my next move since that response 'made my blood boil'. I went to the conductor and car attendant who happened to be together in the next car. The conductor said, "I think I know who you mean' and came and chewed the guy out, suggesting he take his calls in the lounge car. Amazingly he went to sleep, but of course, groaned and snored loudly.
I always check 'annoyance' people's destination tag. Sometimes it's easiest to 'wait them out' in the lounge car.
Funniest and most annoying was on a prior SWC trip where a lady got on in Alburqueque with four or five kids, one with a grand baby. When one kid would say something, three others would pop up over the seats and say 'what?'. Sometimes I felt like repeating 'what she said' to keep things quiet. It was actually funny since they were nice people. As the train got moving out of Alburqueque one kid asked mother, 'Where are we going? The answer was Anaheim.
Guess who got on at Fullerton on my return trip? I snuck into the next car.
Amtrak288 Member # 1967
posted
I'm on the Lake Shore Limited last August and I'm sitting in the Lounge Car writing my travelogue with my laptop while this woman sitting across from me, has her laptop out and not one but two cell phones, one to get on the internet, and the other to continuously talk on the whole time she was in the car. She would switch phones every now and then to see which one had better reception. Before you know it, she's telling us about something not working in her sleeper so then she gets back on the cell phone again, calls Amtrak and tries to get money back, IN THE MIDDLE OF THE TRIP because of a problem in her sleeper! Twice I was in the lounge car, twice she didn't get off that cell phone. Next thing you know, we're south of Albany, and now she's in our coach about 5 rows ahead of me, again constantly talking on the same cell phone! Very annoying because we all could hear her! Don't get me wrong, I own a cell phone myself, but when I'm on Amtrak, I keep my calls as short as possible and talk in a very low tone so as to not bother other passengers, whether it's in the lounge car or at my coach seat, its only common courtesy to do so.
Geoff Mayo Member # 153
posted
In the UK more and more trains have designated "quiet" zones. These are where mobiles and personal stereos are banned. Getting everybody to adhere to the rules is the next part... but it does generally work.
Geoff M.
Amtrak207 Member # 1307
posted
Cellular phones should be placed on the rails of an active train track. I am going to ask if I can attempt this next time I talk to my favorite engineer. Amtrak obviously has high demand for "Quiet Cars" on long distance trains but won't have the equipment, manpower, or training to implement it. Fortunately, most of my Amtrak travel (except for a few quick trips in 2002) was before the era of hangupandride so my worst experience was a loud snorer. This was at 3:40 in the morning between Toledo and Cleveland in my coach. Here comes the greatest part: around 25 minutes into the snoozing, the passenger behind the snoring passenger said (loudly, but not excessively so) "STOP SNORING." And it worked!
It sounds like everybody here needs to listen to a song I've found uses for lately. The group is a niche alternative group called King Missile, and the song is entitled On the Metro-North.
posted 
I don't think I have ever gone up Superliner stairs as quickly as I did then. 
The other passenger quickly left too.