Bo

Riding the NYC subway this weekend the train stops and a woman gets on. I guess she stepped on a man's foot and gives him an "I'm sorry". The man evidently didn't think this was sincere enough and mumbles something under his breath, <probbably> along the lines of "I bet you are" or "why don't you watch where you're going next time".

Well, with this the woman proceeds to go off on him, screaming at the man at the top of her lungs, "I said i was sorry you *#*&! SOB! What the $*%# you want me to do you #*%*$". The man just stands there taking the verbal abuse.

The doors close and the train begins to pull out of the station. At this point, the woman acts as if nothing has happened, and begins her script:

"Good afternoon Ladies and Gentleman, my name is Tonya, i am not homeless but i have 2 little girls at home, anything you can help out with...."

Only in NYC!!

RNC

How bout new glasses so she can see where she is going;#)

olivia

Part of NYC's charm are the crazies. Harmless, yet entertaining nonetheless.

wantsomesun

Oh I have a great story along that line you will enjoy. I was taking the cross town bus on 50th St and at the corner of 5th Ave (at Saks) an older woman appeared in the doorway and yelled, "I'm not getting on this bus until someone gets up and gives me a seat, so the WHOLE front half of the bus gets up and moves to the back, (this has to be a first in the history of NYC, lol) so ALL the seats up front are empty and at the next stop people get on, see empty seats and sit down, and she starts yelling at them, so they get up and come to the back with us, now the entire back of the bus is FULL we can't move at all and at the next stop, more people get on, (ok some are now escaping out the back door to take the next bus)

Didn't mention that we got an entire history of the woman's life, how no one helps her (wonder why) on and on and on, I finally got off the bus at 1st Ave and the bus driver couln''t get her to leave, seems she got on the bus going in the wrong direction and would not get off.

That bus driver deserves a medal for that trip alone.

Happy travels.

Ryan

I had a similar experience about a dozen years ago on the Lex. Ave. Express, just prior to Christmas. A panhandler who I saw fairly frequently was in his usual clown makeup and outfit collecting for some fictitious "feed the homeless" charity. He did his usual speech and his catch-phrase "coming through, are you." He hadn't had much luck and as he was leaving the car he gave a hearty "Merry Christmas...go f*ck yourselves."

Patrick

If nothing else this thread shows how different people in New York are from people in California. The "characters" you've described are just like the characters one might encounter near Union Square in San Francisco. In New York they are considered harmless and "fun" or just plain ignored by the locals. But in San Francisco some of the locals call them dangerous and recommend that you avoid any area where you might actually see these people.

gc

This is a great thread.
Maybe 15 or so years ago, I took the shuttle into New York. Wanting to save the company money, I took the bus from LGA to Grand Central. While getting off, these dark skinned gentlemen were calling "Taxi here", "Taxi here"!

I thought, "Oh, what a neat service!" and proceeded to hand my bags to one of the guys.
So he grabs my bags, runs into the middle of 42nd street and stops a cab. I follow and he says "Taxi, sir."
I laughed and gave him a dollar, whereupon he said, still holding my bags: "I'm sorry sir, but my fee is $5.00Z"
God, I love New York!

Ryan

Might as well add another NY story.

A very close friend was a member of the NYPD for a few years. He was on uniformed foot patrol in Times Square (Pre-Rudy cleanup) and a guy runs up to him and points at a another guy and says "he stole $500 from me yesterday."

My friend assumes he was mugged and asked if the thief used a weapon in the robbery. With a straight face, the guy proceeds to tell my friend that he wasn't mugged but he paid the guy the $500 to get him a girl and he never showed and could my friend make him give back the money or make him get the girl.

Nina66

Can I inject an 'only in San Francisco'... About 15 years ago, my friend happened to look out of the window of her fiancee's living room, and right below the window she saw her ex-husband, his new wife and their child walking past the house. She hadn't seen the ex in years and started shrieking, (as she hid from view),"that's my ex-husband, he must live around here". Her fiancee looked out of the window and, said, "THAT'S your ex-husband ...that's the nut that I keep telling you about that gets on the bus with me every night and tries to get everyone to sing rounds, and songs like Camptown Races."

IMO, her ex wasn't a nut, just a lively fellow that loved to interact with others, part of his charm.

olivia

I was visiting my grandmother in Manhattan and she's been there for 50 years, so she's used to the madness. We went to Sbarro in Times Square for a very quick bite, when a man walked up to the upstairs dining area where we were and began and argument with himself in the mirror. He seemed pretty harmless to the rest of us, but he had a real beef with his reflection. He kept saying, "stop looking at me! Why do you keep staring? Who are you?" then he turned to the rest of us and said "can you believe this?" Naturally my response was no. He was escorted out by a manager.

Austin

My NY Subway story is a bit different. I lived in NYC while a grad student at Columbia (1979 - 80). My (female) friend and I were going back home pretty late from the Village - maybe 1 AM. We got on the subway and there was a guy standing in car with his boombox, smoking a cigarette, singing to himself, acting a bit strange. Next to us was a bag lady, asleep on the seat. The guy kept looking at us, smiling, but creepy. We huddled next to each other and I had my hand on my mace in my pocket...

A few stops, several minutes later, the guy starts walking toward us. My friend and I are getting nervous, she's squeezing my arm. He comes right over to us and....puts a $1 bill in the hand of the sleeping bag lady lying next to us.

canuckuphereathome

Ohmygosh...my first trip to N.Y.-true story, honest! We were getting off the subway congratulating ourselves on maneuvering the big N.Y. subway station. Walking up the stairs from the station behind an obvious homeless man. He suddenly stopped and so we suddenly stopped behind him. He shook his leg several times and the next thing we knew poop was dropping from the bottom of his pants. He then continued walking up the stairs. We, as wide-eyed tourists, walked around his deposit and said literally "only in N.Y."!

Lewis

I used to commute to NYC from CT. I worked in the Empire State Building. I walked from Grand Central to 34th st. Everyday I passed a bag lady at Lord and Taylor at 38th st. who would yell profanities at me and others as we all walked by. One day I decided to take a different route to work but, walked back to GCT the usual way. Well the bag lady was at her usual sopt, spotted me and said "where the F__K were you this morning"!!!! I LOVE NY

suzanne

Some of you must remember the saxophone guy. He would enter the subway car, playing his saxophone very badly, and asking for money for saxophone lessons. He would then blow harder and we were forced to cover our ears. Then he'd say "Give me money and I'll STOP!"

michelleNYC

There also used to be a harmonica guy that would do the same as the sax guy! Too funny.

rjw_lgb_ca

And who says NYC isn't a People Town...? #;^)

Faina

Suzanne, was this saxophone guy in the White House for 8 years?

mclaurie

I have too many to tell but I'll offer this one...My husband, who's English was not used to all the panhandling (& phone solicitation but THAT'S another story) in NY when he first moved here & was always giving out change, much to my chagrin. I considered myself a hardened New Yorker (yeah). One night I was coming home from work & a homeless guy who seemed really sincere asked me for some money so he could get himself cleaned up for a job interview the following day. I said "wait right here" and went running up to my apt & told my husband to gather some soap, shampoo, a razor, a wash cloth etc. & bring it down to this guy. Shaking his head in disbelief he did it. When he returned he told me he recognized the guy as someone he had given money to many times. He told the guy "I don't want to see you around here any more & DON'T bother my wife". The guy used to cross to the other side of the street & try to become invisible any time he saw us.

tommy

Didn't the sax guy also wear really funky clothes and say he was from outer space?

nina

My husband was on the subway last week and this nicely dressed woman stepped on, but had wild eyes. She then loudly shouted "Has anyone seen Donny Osmond? Do you know where he lives? I really need to see him". I think he said her name was Sally...