Sunday, April 3, 2011

Nasty behavior now commonplace

From the NY Times:

Since I moved to New York six years ago, I have toned my tolerance muscles. If I allowed myself to get cranky every time someone barreled down the wrong side of the sidewalk or had a way-too-personal phone conversation on the M15 bus, I’d be one unhappy New Yorker. But the one thing I still cannot abide in this city is spitting.

Just the other day — one of the few warm ones in late March — I was enjoying the freedom of walking outside coatless when a young man in front of me, nice looking enough in khakis and a polo shirt, turned his head to the side and let fly a spinning glob that landed dangerously close to my left shoe.

What is it with people who think it’s O.K. to work up a wad and hurl it in someone’s path? I know the subject is revolting, which underscores the need for people to shut it down already. You’ve seen it, the tell-tale splat on the sidewalk, bubbling, wet and freshly flung. It sits as an affront to living cooperatively. It’s a message from its source that says, “I am imposing my grossness on you because I had a personal need that was not at all urgent but nevertheless trumped courtesy and consideration.”

I have seen only one woman spitting in public since I moved here, and I think she may have had the flu.


Well then you must never have visited Flushing. There, spitting is just considered part of our vibrant, diverse culture. Enjoy.

39 comments:

Moby said...

My son Evan is the spitting image of a turd. A human turd! Now that's nasty!

georgetheatheist said...

How about this treat:

While bopping down the trottoir, honking one nostril sans tissue and letting the boogie fly through the wind. Repeat with the other nostril.

Anonymous said...

"Well then you must never have visited Flushing. There, spitting is just considered part of our vibrant, diverse culture. Enjoy."

Lmao So True, gotta love the diverse and vibrant culture

Anonymous said...

They're spitting out cum from the night before.

Anonymous said...

Just watch a baseball game and see the players constantly spitting.
Smokers are notorious also.
We should bring back spittoons :-)

Anonymous said...

It's so true.
And not just in Flushing. All over the city.
People have zero shame.

If I was hocking up some of the stuff these people are spitting, I'd get myself to a doctor. But they see no problem with it. Disgusting.

Anonymous said...

Well, this is what happens when you invite people in from all over the world as you hollow out polite culture and make the ghetto the cultural center of choice.

Everything, from gansta rap, clothing, speech, writing, even driving and parking of cars becomes and exercise in poor taste and inconsideration.

But again, like the process that somehow thinks that 14 story hotel in your back yard is fine, your elected official looks like the kind of person that runs the lending desk at the library, and the biggest crowd in front of the local library are the day labors standing in line to get greasy beans and rice in the portable food cart anchored to a parking meter

and long as the good burgers in question vote for the machine,

their kids and parents provide good back drops for hack photo ops,

what the hell is your problem?

Ralph Kramden said...

"Norton, that handkerchief is for showin' not for blowin' "

Anonymous said...

And what about the 800 pound gorilla in the room? Public urination and defacation on Main Street and environs!!! Gross!!!

Anonymous said...

Where does the NYC Department of Health stand on these issues? Perhaps they need to send agents to Manhattan and Flushing and give out tickets for breaking these laws. This would be a great source of revenue for the city. Are you listening Mr. Mayor?

Anonymous said...

Not just in Flushing. Here in Forest Hills (south side), they walk in the middle of the street and cough up that shit all the time. WTF? That's part of their culture???

Anonymous said...

I think when they do this they are spitting on our country and its citizens.

Anonymous said...

In Flushing, I have seen parents teaching their small children to urinate on the sidewalk, even though they can walk 2 blocks to the Flushing library and use their toilet. In Jamaica, I recently saw a (possibly mentally disabled) man take a crap on the sidewalk outside the York College fence. Although it's possible that he was making a statement about the quality of public higher education, I think he just didn't know any better. Too many things are now acceptable that used to be beyond the pale.

Claire Shillman said...

I fully endorse Urinade---the official beverage of Flushing. Try some today!

2 varieties:

Plain or
Sputum

Dee Truth said...

Urinade---the official beverage of Flushing

It ain't worth a spit
If it don't taste like sh*t

Big Hairy Balls said...

I left NYC (Brooklyn resident) as soon as my pension kicked in. Funny enough I've never regretted the move. Now I enjoy reading about Queens & the surrounding boroughs and it makes me laugh. Ahhhh, schadenfreude. Suckers!!!!

Anonymous said...

Big Hairy Balls said...Now I enjoy reading about Queens & the surrounding boroughs and it makes me laugh.

Kibitzing from the kibbutz, no doubt.

BTW: Pensions are a Socialist invention..shame on you.

Anonymous said...

Pensions are the only reason N.Y.C. has a good work force. When Civil Service ends so dose the middle class. Who would work and live here with no reward. Pensions are earned by workers not given to them like all the social welfare programs that the government pays for with the workers taxes.

Anonymous said...

Man so many sensitive people on this thread its ridiculous... and to those tasteful people who talk about our vibrant and diverse culture being a part of this issue... uh no... NYC was much dirtier 20 years ago... if you can't accept the terms of NYC then you can move...

Everything nowadays must be politically correct and soft and pretty and colorful and oh so gay its just tiring... I may be one of the few people that wants old NYC back without all the complainers and whiners that get disgusted by every little thing that goes on and blames the immigrants for every problem under the sun...

While there not exactly perfect... if you were to see the hellhole NYC used to be back in the 90s and it was our own American folk that kept it this way... you'd be shocked...

Anonymous said...

Spitting is only allowed from the Number 7 platforms over Roosevelt Ave.

georgetheatheist said...

God, I miss Mayor Wagner.

Anonymous said...

"While there not exactly perfect... if you were to see the hellhole NYC used to be back in the 90s and it was our own American folk that kept it this way... you'd be shocked..."

Go a little further back...

http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=402544

Anonymous said...

No wonder diseases like TB have made such a comeback!

Queens Crapper said...

How would you like to see spit in front of your house every morning when you leave for work? Or have your kid play in it? People like you, who pine for the "good old days when Times Square was full of hookers" are part of the problem. Take your relativism and shove it up your ass. When Giuliani cracked down on quality of life problems, life in this city improved tremendously. And yes, I was here in the 90s. My neighborhood got through the 90s unscathed, as it did in the 70s. Good neighborhoods tend to do that. Showing pictures of slums, when there have always been slums, make you look foolish. Wanting to continually improve your neighborhood is not whining or politically correct. It's how you're SUPPOSED to react to a decline in conditions where you live. If we didn't care, we would have moved long ago.

Anonymous said...

@ queenscrapper same poster that talked about the sensitivity of people...

again more sensitivity... Listen don't get me wrong I am in no way condoning that disgusting behavior of some of today's NYers and I will be glad to see this city make a full turnaround cause granted there is still alot of work to be done...

that being said, what i have issues with is these people that moved from Cherryville USA to NYC and expected to have a better quality of life here than where they moved from simply because they moved here... NYC has always been a gritty place and now it is a paradise compared to what it used to be even before all the hispanic illegal immigrants which so many claim are part of the reason its like this, came...

that is just so stupid and ignorant to forget the last 25 years of NYC and say that now is worse than its ever been... to the poster who posted the thread of NYC from 1965-1995 all i can say is thank you...

WE lived during that age and so we know that compared to back then the turnaround that NYC has had is truly remarkable... And while spitting on the floor is not acceptable behavior its not something to have a hissy fit over and cause a dramatic scene and then blame the popular pick when back then it was so much worse...

Anonymous said...

@ queenscrapper same poster that talked about the sensitivity of people...

again more sensitivity... Listen don't get me wrong I am in no way condoning that disgusting behavior of some of today's NYers and I will be glad to see this city make a full turnaround cause granted there is still alot of work to be done...

that being said, what i have issues with is these people that moved from Cherryville USA to NYC and expected to have a better quality of life here than where they moved from simply because they moved here... NYC has always been a gritty place and now it is a paradise compared to what it used to be even before all the hispanic illegal immigrants which so many claim are part of the reason its like this, came...

that is just so stupid and ignorant to forget the last 25 years of NYC and say that now is worse than its ever been... to the poster who posted the thread of NYC from 1965-1995 all i can say is thank you...

WE lived during that age and so we know that compared to back then the turnaround that NYC has had is truly remarkable... And while spitting on the floor is not acceptable behavior its not something to have a hissy fit over and cause a dramatic scene and then blame the popular pick when back then it was so much worse...

Queens Crapper said...

Well in my neighborhood, we had graffiti and drug vials in the park back then. Fast forward to today and we have the same exact shit. So I don't buy into your argument that things are SO much better today. When Giuliani was around, things were cleaned up, then the NYPD got gutted again and it's back to shit town.

Anonymous said...

Where do you live at exactly? Me I live in Ridgewood and while I see that stuff sometimes... its no where near what it used to be... not even in this neighborhood when I first moved here from Brooklyn...

Cleveland Park was no man's zone cause the Bloods and the Kings were always fighting there... Starr Park there were always fights and the area was shadier back then... Sure you got your problems more spaced out now and things still happen in those parks and throughout the area but not anywhere close to the levels of the 80s and 90s...

Thats why it gets me frustrated when people talk about how bad its getting because they have no idea what bad really is...

Anonymous said...

Where do you live at exactly? Me I live in Ridgewood and while I see that stuff sometimes... its no where near what it used to be... not even in this neighborhood when I first moved here from Brooklyn...

Cleveland Park was no man's zone cause the Bloods and the Kings were always fighting there... Starr Park there were always fights and the area was shadier back then... Sure you got your problems more spaced out now and things still happen in those parks and throughout the area but not anywhere close to the levels of the 80s and 90s...

Thats why it gets me frustrated when people talk about how bad its getting because they have no idea what bad really is...

Anonymous said...

Where do you live at exactly? Me I live in Ridgewood and while I see that stuff sometimes... its no where near what it used to be... not even in this neighborhood when I first moved here from Brooklyn...

Cleveland Park was no man's zone cause the Bloods and the Kings were always fighting there... Starr Park there were always fights and the area was shadier back then... Sure you got your problems more spaced out now and things still happen in those parks and throughout the area but not anywhere close to the levels of the 80s and 90s...

Thats why it gets me frustrated when people talk about how bad its getting because they have no idea what bad really is...

Anonymous said...

Can ya say that again? Maybe we missed something??!!?!

Big Hairy Balls said...

To the anon who remarked about my pension: you are simply jealous, I earned it. As far as my support for Israel well I hope that annoys the crap out of you. NYC was a disgrace in the seventies but it's not great today either. Long live Israel! Long live Queens crapper! Long live my NYC pension! Death to the treasonous Palestinians!

Anonymous said...

Lol yea sorry about that for some reason on my job's computer it kept on posting my comment twice...

Anonymous said...

twice...

er thrice!

Anonymous said...

Ridgewood has been a shithole since the 1977 blackout.

Anonymous said...

to the last anon read the daily news profile of ridgewood that may change your mind... lol

the daily news will make Brownsville look like hollywood, its really amazing... they talk about the influx of college students and artsy transplants... LMBOO... If i've seen 10 of these so called transplants in Ridgewood over the last 3 years it would have been alot...

I think most of them either come from Bushwick, or East williamsburg cause we share the border with both nabes and aside from those nabes I really don't see gentrification in ridgewood nor do I think it needs it...

Ridgewoods okay... for the most part you can walk the streets without feeling worried pretty much at all times... a few years ago that wasn't the case...

Believe me, I got a knife put to my throat for a basketball a couple of years ago at 8pm so things have definitely changed over time...

Anonymous said...

Btw, the last post was the same poster that talked about the sensitivity of people just to let you know that I understand that we are still a long way to go from a decent city but compared to the past, NYC has made great strides...

Anonymous said...

Spitting has been part of NYC way before it became dynamic and diverse. Even when it was boring, sterile and monochrome, the MTA, in the 50s had to put posters up in the Subways telling people that "If you expect to rate, DON'T EXPECTORATE."

Anonymous said...

"If you expect to rate, DON'T EXPECTORATE."

Ptooey!!!