A Smack on Amtrak

My transportation tragedy of sorts two Sundays ago, coupled with the possibility of terrible traffic on I-95, led me to purchase an Amtrak ticket home last Wednesday night. For most of the journey, I managed to maintain a delightful slumber, until I was rudely awakened by a woman yelling. I sat up in my seat and noticed that a few rows ahead of me, a woman in her thirties was turned around and yelling at a woman behind her. Apparently, the target of her verbal assault had smacked the enraged woman's child because, as she claimed, the child was making too much noise. Now, to be fair, I had neither heard the kid making noise, nor did I see the extent of the blow, but the mother of the child certainly felt that the contact was unwarranted, and was threatening to call the police. Since this happened right before arriving at 3oth Street Station in Philadelphia, I had to leave the train and did not find out how the story ended. However, today at work, a friend of mine who stayed on the train until NYC told me that the mother actually did call the police, who eventually made their way to Ms. Physical Contact and escorted her off the train.

Honestly, does the journey from between Philadelphia and DC bring out the child abuser in people? As I wrote Here , some people have no qualms about candidly discussing their abusive ways on the bus. However, it is now clear to me that others have no problem actually demonstrating their parental puching prowess on other people's children. You know, I used to think that public transportation brought out the best in people, but now... well, now I just don't know.