Was riding line 2 westbound this afternoon when a small group of teens near Coxwell decided to force the train door open after it had already closed, despite the warnings from the operator over the intercom. The train door wouldn't close after this treatment until said operator came by and manually fixed it. She sternly told them to wait for the next train instead of charging the doors, and this one insufferable kid (I think the one who charged the door in the first place) loudly made some kind of rude comment at her as she turned to go back to her post.
This was a train that had already been experiencing a lot of standstills on its way from Main Street where I boarded, and I was frustrated. I spoke up and said "you do realize you just delayed an entire train full of people right?" He said something like "I don't care" while his (presumably) girlfriend giggled beside him. I said maybe one day when his brain develops he'll care lol. Said kid proceeded to pass around his vape to his friends on the train, then they got off two stations later.
This is my first time seeing such a disregard for etiquette on transit. Wtf are parents teaching their kids nowadays? I'm only in my early-mid-20s so I don't feel much older than these kids but it feels like they were raised in a completely different world without any rules or consequences. I guess that's what covid did huh?
I've been thinking about how important it is to make an effort to speak up and tell people when they are doing something wrong in public (if it seems safe to do so, ofc, protect yourself first). Hopefully this kid, despite his defensive "I don't care" to me, will think about the time that stranger told him his behaviour was shitty on transit before he tries charging the doors again... but maybe that's just wishful thinking