Update

Just an update on the TTC "quicker" front:

They have not changed the sign. They're all still there and they all still bear the horrible "quicker" reference. How annoying, and still quite embarrassing.

I know, I'm obsessed. But it really needs to be changed, for the good of a grammar-correct society.

Germs- ew!

So I was sitting on the subway this morning on my super-long train ride out to Rexdale and this woman in a long floral skirt and clunky black shoes came on and promptly pulled out a hard-boiled egg and ATE IT right there on the spot. Just put her whole hand around it and shoved it in her mouth and took huge bits, and there was egg falling everywhere around her.

Now, I understand eating a bag of chips or an apple on the subway because you're a little peckish. But really, a slippery hard-boiled egg on public transit that is used by thousands of people each day?

I mean, to eat a hard-boiled egg without a bowl and cutlery, you need to grab the thing with your whole hand, so all of your palm and fingers are touching it. That's the hand that you just touched the railing, the door handle and the train poles with.

Don't get me wrong, hard-boiled eggs with a bit of salt and pepper and veggies are delicious and nutritious, but only when you've had a chance to wash your hands and take a seat.

Needless to say, I was a little grossed out. She just ingested way too much of other people's sneezes, coughs and snot.

Photo Credit: the cosmic cowgirl

Public art as a public service

Jason Shelowitz, a graphic designer and artist from New York, has started a public art campaign that draws attention to people's bad manners and horrible etiquette on the New York subway system.
He has created a series of posters that look like official transit posters and he has posted them around the New York subway lines.
The posters' messages are about anything from people clipping their nails or eating messy food to playing loud music or simply littering while riding public transit.
"The messages are barbed and to the point," writes Debra Black in today's Toronto Star article about Shelowitz's art campaign.
Check out an image gallery of Shelowitz's posters here.


I wish a public art campaign of that nature could happen here.
It's really terrifying the amount of gross and ill-mannered things I see people do- smoking on the subway train, clipping fingernails on the streetcar and leaving piles of garbage under seats.

I don't treat the system like crap because I don't want it to look like crap. Yes, people are employed to clean up the streetcars, trains and buses. But that doesn't mean I want it to look and feel like a garbage dump before they get a chance to do their job.

It's really disgusting how people will treat their surroundings when they think that someone else will clean up after them.


Photo Credit: Toronto Star Article

Quicker

Alright, TTC. I really didn't want to take a shot at you since every other media-related person is lately, but I feel I sort of have to.

There are signs on the Southbound platform at Yonge and Bloor that encourage customers to move down the platform. There are some reasons why you should move down listed in bullet point.
The first point is "You will board quicker."

But you can not board quicker.
You can board more quickly or you can board faster.
But you can't board quicker.

Such a simple grammatical mistake makes them look really stupid.

I actually lodged a formal complaint about four months ago. I also spoke with an employee on the platform about this issue. But it hasn't been fixed and it's really getting on my nerves.
It's such an easy thing to correct. They don't even need new signs, they can just cover up that one word and laminate on a new, corrected version of the sentence.