Rumblin with the Riffraff
We don't have a car and so we take public transportation all the time. Since every single segment of society also rides the trams, buses and metro, you end up being next to some people who aren't big on showering or are lacking class in one form or another. (Note: every single country in the world has their share of riffraff, so I'm not intending to write this to bash Hungary.)
Last week, Agi and I were on the tram going into the city from our condo and there was only one other guy on the tram with us. I was reading a book (almost finished with Ivanhoe) and Agi was chilling out. The guy was sitting a few seats behind us, was about 45 years old, kind of big and pudgy and possibly unemployed. He was carrying a leather bag but was also was wearing sweatpants, a t-shirt, and flip-flops. We hear him open a wrapper, eat a candy bar, roll up the wrapper, and then this wrapper hits the ground and rolls down the aisle, over to us. A couple seconds pass, and then bold Agi looks at him and asks, with a bit of a smile "did you just throw that wrapper on the ground?" He apparently smiled a little bit (I didn't turn around) and said, somewhat proudly, "Yes." Agi then asked him, "Don't you think you should pick it up and keep the tram clean?" He responds, starting to feel defensive that this younger "girl" was upbraiding him, said, "no."
A couple of minutes pass, then right before the final stop, the dude walks past us and picks up the wrapper, looks at us, and then throw it down again right in front of us. It was pathetic and Agi and I looked at each other and shook our heads. But something else kind of snapped within me and as we got up and left the tram as well, my adrenaline was flowing and I was bothered he had "dissed my woman" like that. I was probably also emboldened from having been working out again at Sportmax..., but I started walking kind of quickly toward the guy, who was already making his way down the street. I wasn't sure what I was going to do, but Agi and I had to walk in the same direction and it was satisfying to see him get a bit nervous as we were all walking along. For about three minutes, we followed behind him and he kept nervously checking over his shoulder every few seconds to see if we were getting any closer--or who knows--planning to jump him. I guess this is how fights get started, but Agi and I both made sure we weren't actually following too close to make him lash out. Just wanted to put some heat on him a bit for his bad behavior. Perhaps he'll think we're the "Budapest Trash Vigilantes?"
Anyway, he turned down one street and we kept going on our way and we had a good laugh. I'll let you know if we run into him again.