“Rule #1... NEVER confront anyone on the subway unless you’re packing... then think about it before you open your mouth...
Rule #2 NEVER talk to anyone on the subway no matter what .. You should know where you’re going before you embark on your trip.
Rule #3 NEVER stare at anyone... END”
Rule #3 Never even LOOK at anyone,,,ever. Fixed it.
So true. When I was a kid, I secretly suspected that the only thing that blacks were capable of saying was "whatta you lookin' at?" because that was all I ever heard them say. Back in the '70s that phrase was usually accompanied by a menacing advancing step and a balled fist. (Keep in mind I was under 10 and these upstanding citizens of color were mostly adults.) I learned pretty fast not to look at them. So did all the other kids that I compared notes with.
True. Good advice. I remember once in Brooklyn Heights in the mid-eighties, I was walking on the sidewalk and I noticed a woman on the other side of the street who looked like she didn't live in the neighborhood. My eyes gazed on her just a few seconds. I was wondering to myself if she were stealing a car, but I didn't say anything and I never slowed my pace.
Two hours later as I was walking back, she was still there and yelled out to her boyfriend "THAT'S THE ONE." I thought I and my boyfriend were about to get beat up, but nothing happpened.
The lesson I learned is to walk looking straight ahead and pretend not to notice strange things.
The other day, I was in the Port Authority ladies room at 11:00 PM when I heard a man's voice getting louder and louder until it seemed to be inside the ladies room and then right outside the stall I had just entered. I opened the door and was face to face with a 6 foot tall black transvestite wearing a wig, make-up and tiny short-shorts. At that instant I decided the best thing to do was to pretend this was totally normal so I closed the stall door, used the facility, and left the restroom without saying a word or looking.