I was riding my usual two loops of Central Park on my bike with Poppy. I was riding alongside a woman roughly my age, maybe a decade younger. She was on a Citibike with items in the front basket and large white over-the-ear headphones on. She was pedaling along at roughly the same speed I was when a cloth book bag full of something fell out of her basket and onto the ground.
I yelled, “YOU DROPPED SOMETHING!” “HELLO! HELLO! YOU DROPPED YOUR BAG!!” She didn’t hear me. She kept riding. So I pulled over, hopped off my bike, walked back a bit, and picked up the bag. By the time I was climbing back on my bike with the bag, I noticed that she had realized her bag was gone, began looking around, and turned her bike around suddenly in the road.
As she rode toward me I held up the bag to her and she yelled, “THAT IS MINE!! THAT IS MINE!!” Never taking off her headphones. I said, “I know, I tried to get your attention, and stopped to pick it up for you.” She just kept yelling as she took it, “HOW RUDE!! YOU CAN’T JUST PICK UP PEOPLE’S STUFF OFF THE ROAD WHEN THEY DROP IT. VERY INAPPROPRIATE!!” Then she rode a circle around me and sped off using the e-boost on her bike.
OK. I regularly struggle with talking to people when it comes to fundamental navigation, coordination, and other social situations. It left me thinking about just how hostile that woman must see the world, when someone trying to help her is dismissed as rude. Which I guess is a reason why she wears her headphones, because she sees people as rude. A self-fulfilling cycle. I refuse to wear my headphones when riding because I feel it is more dangerous to be disconnected while riding around NYC, but also because I just prefer experiencing the world.
