Thursday Morning Tube Rant: Get Your Own Damn Reading Material

On the flight over to Toulouse this summer, I felt a pair of eyes glancing surreptitiously over at my InStyle magazine.  It was Tom, who quickly apologized for reading over my shoulder (though I was secretly dying to discuss the new camel A/W trend with him and waiting for him to initiate the conversation - I settled for his opinion on the new Chanel Fantasy Fur boots instead), but I didn't mind.  I enjoy joint-magazine/newspaper reading ... with a friend, that is.

What I really can't stand is opening a newspaper or magazine on the tube and having someone openly and blatantly read the material that I'm holding.  It's rude.  I don't mean the quick glance here and there, I mean, the whole head-turned, shoulders-leaning-into-you type of reading.   Seriously, get your own damn paper!  I then have to refrain from saying something confrontational like, "Do you mind?" and opt for the not-so-subtly, turning my paper away from the prying eyes move and/or shifting my body around to the other side.

"What's wrong with that?" John asked, when I complained about it.  "Today, I read this guy's 'Welcome to Pret-a-Manager' booklet.  You know, the kind they get when they start working there.  It, like, talked about how you should stack the sandwiches, how to make them ..." he trailed off as I stared at him with open-mouthed hostility.   "That's rude," I hissed.  "No, it's not," he insisted.

I spent the rest of my evening wondering how such a polite, well-mannered boy could freely admit to committing such a heinous act against Tube Etiquette.