i ride the bus an hour in the morning, and an hour in the afternoon. i make one transfer each way. that's a total of four buses per day. maybe half the people on each bus are regulars, and the other half are an ever rotating group of mass transit users comprised of business people, students and other citizens, who let's be honest are as likely as not to be holding conversations with themselves.
my ride takes me through the very heart of a decent sized metropolitan area of a couple of million folks. now, not counting the regulars, i don't really expect to see a particular person get on the bus. anyway, an acquaintance of mine, that is my girlfriend's friend's boyfriend, got on the bus and took the seat directly in front of me. i had my nose in a magazine and my ears in headphones and didn't notice him until half way through my ride. when i tried to get his attention he blew me off. now, i am totally willing to grant that maybe he said something when he first sat down, but i didn't notice, in which case i blew him off.
i would feel bad for blowing him off, but...i don't because he's not my favorite person- there's nothing wrong with the guy, we just haven't ever hit it off very well. and as far as him blowing me off, i only noticed he was sitting in front of me when two girls who are regulars on the route were looking at him and smiling and talking covertly about him. (they're all in the same grad school program, and they think he's a big blowhard- word's i've heard them use.)
