It’s A Good Thing She’s Not Driving

I’m standing at a train station. The train I’m waiting for just arrived and the display says, “Do not enter.” A woman approaches me.

Woman: “Is this the train to Leipzig?”

Me: “Yes, it’s just being cleaned right now.”

Woman: “But it doesn’t say Leipzig on the display.” 

Me: “That’s to stop people from entering so that the cleaning crew can do their job quickly and without being disturbed.”

Woman: “But why doesn’t it say Leipzig on the display?”

Me: “Because they need to clean the train and people should wait until they’ve finished. It goes to Leipzig. Trust me, I take this train every day to work.” 

Woman: “So I can enter?”

Me: “Please don’t; they’re still cleaning. Just wait a little bit. This usually just takes just a few minutes.”

Almost all seats in the waiting area are empty; it really doesn’t matter if you’re sitting there waiting or on the train itself.

Woman: “But it goes to Leipzig?” 

Me: “Yes. Don’t worry; we’ve got another twenty minutes until it leaves.”

Woman: “So I can enter, right?”

I am fed up with her inability to listen.

Me: “Well, what does the display say?” 

The woman looked at me, looked at the display which literally still said, “Do not enter,” and then entered the train.

Through the window, I could see her sitting down and spreading out her bags and stuff across four seats before talking to the man who was still working in that area.

When I got on, I heard her telling someone on the phone about how rude the cleaning guy was and that she couldn’t have known that she was supposed to wait. 

Sometimes I ask myself how people like that manage to get through life.