spotted on the metro last night
Apr. 6th, 2004 05:34 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
electriclandTwo boys, their voices not yet broken but just big enough to suggest they might be heading that way, dressed in the usual annoying hip-hop-esque style that makes me want to yank the childrens' pants down around their ankles... where was I? Oh yes.
On the opposite platform, with a flick-knife.
It was a wee thought disturbing, yet it somehow didn't seem like quite enough of an emergency to justify running over to the little intercom thingy and notifying Security. I find I'm not good with these judgement calls. I'm great in an emergency, not so good when deciding what to do with something that might or might not become one.
A case in point is the sofa incident last summer. As I pulled off the DVP onto the Bloor/Bayview exit, I noticed the cars ahead of me swerving around a large object in the middle of the road, which proved to be a sofa.
"Hm," thought I, "that could cause a nasty accident."
But I was driving at 60 km/h in heavy traffic, so it didn't seem entirely the right moment to whip out my cellphone and call... who? 911? Seemed extreme. And by the time I got to my parents' house 5 minutes later, I figured someone would have done something about it. (This is known as the Bystander Effect, I believe -- although rest assured that if it is a case of someone in actual need of fire, ambulance, or police intervention, I'm all about calling 911 even if I figure someone else probably already has. Not that it's ever done much good up to now, but that's another story.)
There in a nutshell you have what's wrong with the world today, I'm sure. Nobody wants to involve themselves.
On the opposite platform, with a flick-knife.
It was a wee thought disturbing, yet it somehow didn't seem like quite enough of an emergency to justify running over to the little intercom thingy and notifying Security. I find I'm not good with these judgement calls. I'm great in an emergency, not so good when deciding what to do with something that might or might not become one.
A case in point is the sofa incident last summer. As I pulled off the DVP onto the Bloor/Bayview exit, I noticed the cars ahead of me swerving around a large object in the middle of the road, which proved to be a sofa.
"Hm," thought I, "that could cause a nasty accident."
But I was driving at 60 km/h in heavy traffic, so it didn't seem entirely the right moment to whip out my cellphone and call... who? 911? Seemed extreme. And by the time I got to my parents' house 5 minutes later, I figured someone would have done something about it. (This is known as the Bystander Effect, I believe -- although rest assured that if it is a case of someone in actual need of fire, ambulance, or police intervention, I'm all about calling 911 even if I figure someone else probably already has. Not that it's ever done much good up to now, but that's another story.)
There in a nutshell you have what's wrong with the world today, I'm sure. Nobody wants to involve themselves.
