Metro Diaries: A Daily Dose of Irritating Strangers

I’ve been taking the metro for the past 20 days, and honestly, I think I’ve earned a lifetime achievement award in patience. I never thought a short commute could teach me so much about people—or should I say, how annoying people can be.

It starts the moment I step onto the platform. Without fail, there’s always someone on the phone, shouting like their life depends on being heard five stations away. I don’t understand it—why do people feel the need to scream into their phones in public? It’s like they think we want to be part of their conversation. Spoiler alert: we don’t.

Then comes the ever-so-charming scenario of a kid kicking me. Repeatedly. Tiny legs, tiny feet, but somehow the kicks land with the force of a sledgehammer. And the best part? The parents are RIGHT THERE, watching YouTube or scrolling Instagram, pretending it’s not their circus, not their monkey. No apology. Not even a glance. Just… silence. It’s like basic courtesy has gone extinct.

But the real highlight? One day, I’m minding my business with my earphones in (my sacred shield from the chaos), when this woman walks past with her broken umbrella sticking halfway out of her bag. It snags my earphones, yanks them out, and breaks them. Just like that. And what does she do? Absolutely nothing. No “sorry,” no “oops,” not even a glance. Just kept walking like the world revolves around her ignorance.

And don’t even get me started on Huda City Centre. You’d think people lining up to get on the metro would mean order, right? Wrong. The moment the train arrives, all senses of decency vanish. It becomes a battle zone. People push, elbow, scratch—anything to grab a seat. And these aren’t uneducated people, mind you. These are your so-called “educated” folks, dressed in office formals, speaking fluent English, but behaving worse than animals fighting for scraps.

It’s mind-boggling. How can someone act so selfishly and not even realise it? Or worse—release it and not care?

I’ve had all these experiences in just 20 days. Just twenty. And every single day, I come back with a new story, a new irritation, a new level of disbelief.

Sometimes I wonder—are people always this inconsiderate? Or does public transport bring out their worst?

Either way, all I can say is: life is full of idiots. And somehow, I keep running into them during my daily metro rides.