I really don't know

[h-town]

I was on the streetcar today and I was looking at some guy looking at his iphone. He was browsing around the internet on it, it seemed, and the look on his face really bothered me. The look on his face was intent, like he was maneuvering some kind of important relationship thing with his phone.. but no he was only actually browsing the web on his phone. I don't even know why it struck me or why it's interesting to point out to anyone. He was just really into it and being some sort of weird iphone power user on his way to work.

More than anything I wanted to ask him when exactly he decided to be a slave bitch, or if it's an issue he deals with or is aware of.

How the fuck do you ask someone this?

I'm fielding this thought out there because I really want to know when it goes away. When being angry goes away. Not even kidding at all.

[Elder Iptuous]

as soon as you want it to.
of course, then you herniate from laughter, so it's good to keep some of the anger in your pocket.
just in case...

[Hoser McRhizzy]

Hey h-town.  You're in Toronto too, yeah?  (I remember you mentioning Kensington in another thread...) 

2 cents and a tangent.

The city's infested with faux-cyborgs, and they drive me batty, but they're entirely ridiculous, so I kind of love them for it.  If that makes any sense. 

"I am the epicenter of Bay St.  If I do not finish this soduko puzzle on my iphone, the stock market will crumble.  Must maintain my privacy-bubble at all costs.  Must not acknowledge public space.  I will pretend to take an important business phone call on the subway."

But of course, you're talking about Jamison Houpotchkin the III, and that guy's just a douche.  Just like every day: he gets up, has his power drink, puts on his suit and grabs his phone.  He will google various things and ride the streetcar until 6:30pm, after which he will return home, fail to masturbate successfully and wind up watching the Biggest Loser on Tivo instead.  Asking him about his slave bitch moment will just cause him to google more things.

But the rest of them are pretty funny.

tl;dr - soon.  Leaving random post-its on the main subway line with messages to the cyborgs helped me with the same kind of anger a few years back.  "It didn't work.  We're still here."  That kind of thing.

[BadBeast]

This has obviously been fucking with your process, so try fucking with his. Next time you see him, praying to his IGod, just walk up to him, peer at his appliance, and say in a non threatening, quiet voice, "Sorry, but can I just. . . ." and as you say it, slowly, but with no hint of caution, reach across, and take the thing, out of his hands, and just walk off with it. If you do this with the righteousness and conviction you convey in this post, he will be so mindbombed by your behaviour, that he will need at least 2 minutes before it sinks in. All you need is 5 or 10 seconds though. If he doesn't immediately challenge your actions, (and I'm guessing he wont) then he is not going to do so at all. The bonus being, you get to keep his IPhone as a Trophy.
Technically you haven't robbed him, because you gently took it from him, after requesting it, and he never asked for it back.
Also, I expect you could just about manage a "Do not even think about it, cuz i'm a batshit crazy motherfucker"  look, especially in your vest, and titfer. (Hat) Wear something else, that's a little crazy too, like a feather boa, or cover your hat with tinfoil, just for extra gravitas. What's the worst that can happen?

[ñͤͣ̄ͦ̌̑͗͊͛͂͗ ̸̨̨̣̺̼̣̜͙͈͕̮̊̈́̈͂͛̽͊ͭ̓͆ͅé ̰̓̓́ͯ́́͞]

I don't understand how someone's facial expression while using an iPhone could possibly cause serious anger.

Amusement?
Yes.

Serious anger?
Do you take steroids or some shit?

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

Maybe he was researching something he was intently interested in?

[h-town]

I don't understand how someone's facial expression while using an iPhone could possibly cause serious anger.

Amusement?
Yes.

Serious anger?
Do you take steroids or some shit?

I didn't really get what I was trying to say across. I was out all night drinking and partying with friends. I wasn't feeling seriously angry with that guy, he just reminded me of one of my first acid trips when I was a kid and I started peaking during the morning traffic rush, and I was just angry with- I don't know maybe people's complacency. Never mind I said anything.

[h-town]

Hey h-town.  You're in Toronto too, yeah?  (I remember you mentioning Kensington in another thread...) 

2 cents and a tangent.

The city's infested with faux-cyborgs, and they drive me batty, but they're entirely ridiculous, so I kind of love them for it.  If that makes any sense. 

"I am the epicenter of Bay St.  If I do not finish this soduko puzzle on my iphone, the stock market will crumble.  Must maintain my privacy-bubble at all costs.  Must not acknowledge public space.  I will pretend to take an important business phone call on the subway."

But of course, you're talking about Jamison Houpotchkin the III, and that guy's just a douche.  Just like every day: he gets up, has his power drink, puts on his suit and grabs his phone.  He will google various things and ride the streetcar until 6:30pm, after which he will return home, fail to masturbate successfully and wind up watching the Biggest Loser on Tivo instead.  Asking him about his slave bitch moment will just cause him to google more things.

But the rest of them are pretty funny.

tl;dr - soon.  Leaving random post-its on the main subway line with messages to the cyborgs helped me with the same kind of anger a few years back.  "It didn't work.  We're still here."  That kind of thing.

There is something very soft-core Chicago about Toronto.

[BadBeast]

This has obviously been fucking with your process, so try fucking with his. Next time you see him, praying to his IGod, just walk up to him, peer at his appliance, and say in a non threatening, quiet voice, "Sorry, but can I just. . . ." and as you say it, slowly, but with no hint of caution, reach across, and take the thing, out of his hands, and just walk off with it. If you do this with the righteousness and conviction you convey in this post, he will be so mindbombed by your behaviour, that he will need at least 2 minutes before it sinks in. All you need is 5 or 10 seconds though. If he doesn't immediately challenge your actions, (and I'm guessing he wont) then he is not going to do so at all. The bonus being, you get to keep his IPhone as a Trophy.
Technically you haven't robbed him, because you gently took it from him, after requesting it, and he never asked for it back.
Also, I expect you could just about manage a "Do not even think about it, cuz i'm a batshit crazy motherfucker"  look, especially in your vest, and titfer. (Hat) Wear something else, that's a little crazy too, like a feather boa, or cover your hat with tinfoil, just for extra gravitas. What's the worst that can happen?

Reading back through this, I seem to have missed out the most obvious and practical course of action, which is, quite simply to get a fucking grip, and stop projecting on this poor fucker, who, after all, has no responsibility for the way you feel.  Own your rage, and take responsibility for it yourself, or it will consume you, until you can no longer make a rational decision.
This edit is me, owning my antisocial tendencies, and attempting to make redress, and moderate what I said earlier. So if I can do this, I don't see why you can't take enough control of your own shit, enough to see someone use his own phone, without getting bent out of shape.

[Doktor Howl]

Hey h-town.  You're in Toronto too, yeah?  (I remember you mentioning Kensington in another thread...) 

2 cents and a tangent.

The city's infested with faux-cyborgs, and they drive me batty, but they're entirely ridiculous, so I kind of love them for it.  If that makes any sense. 

"I am the epicenter of Bay St.  If I do not finish this soduko puzzle on my iphone, the stock market will crumble.  Must maintain my privacy-bubble at all costs.  Must not acknowledge public space.  I will pretend to take an important business phone call on the subway."

But of course, you're talking about Jamison Houpotchkin the III, and that guy's just a douche.  Just like every day: he gets up, has his power drink, puts on his suit and grabs his phone.  He will google various things and ride the streetcar until 6:30pm, after which he will return home, fail to masturbate successfully and wind up watching the Biggest Loser on Tivo instead.  Asking him about his slave bitch moment will just cause him to google more things.

But the rest of them are pretty funny.

tl;dr - soon.  Leaving random post-its on the main subway line with messages to the cyborgs helped me with the same kind of anger a few years back.  "It didn't work.  We're still here."  That kind of thing.

There is something very soft-core Chicago about Toronto.

Chicago is soft core.  Lived there for years. 

[Jasper]

You know, he could have been reading something small.  I tend to make that face when reading things that are small.

Or, screw you Sigmatic, it's my right to make the fundamental attribution error.

[h-town]

This has obviously been fucking with your process, so try fucking with his. Next time you see him, praying to his IGod, just walk up to him, peer at his appliance, and say in a non threatening, quiet voice, "Sorry, but can I just. . . ." and as you say it, slowly, but with no hint of caution, reach across, and take the thing, out of his hands, and just walk off with it. If you do this with the righteousness and conviction you convey in this post, he will be so mindbombed by your behaviour, that he will need at least 2 minutes before it sinks in. All you need is 5 or 10 seconds though. If he doesn't immediately challenge your actions, (and I'm guessing he wont) then he is not going to do so at all. The bonus being, you get to keep his IPhone as a Trophy.
Technically you haven't robbed him, because you gently took it from him, after requesting it, and he never asked for it back.
Also, I expect you could just about manage a "Do not even think about it, cuz i'm a batshit crazy motherfucker"  look, especially in your vest, and titfer. (Hat) Wear something else, that's a little crazy too, like a feather boa, or cover your hat with tinfoil, just for extra gravitas. What's the worst that can happen?

Reading back through this, I seem to have missed out the most obvious and practical course of action, which is, quite simply to get a fucking grip, and stop projecting on this poor fucker, who, after all, has no responsibility for the way you feel.  Own your rage, and take responsibility for it yourself, or it will consume you, until you can no longer make a rational decision.
This edit is me, owning my antisocial tendencies, and attempting to make redress, and moderate what I said earlier. So if I can do this, I don't see why you can't take enough control of your own shit, enough to see someone use his own phone, without getting bent out of shape.

I'm not mad at anyone using their iphone, shit- I own a blackberry 

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

You know, he could have been reading something small.  I tend to make that face when reading things that are small.

Or, screw you Sigmatic, it's my right to make the fundamental attribution error.

I was just thinking that, about how hard it can be to read tiny tiny text, especially when you're on a moving vehicle.

[East Coast Hustle]

I don't care what anyone else thinks, getting enraged at the sight of some shitneck using his iPhone on public transit makes perfect sense to me.

My anger, in this instance, is directed at humanity in general for their tendency to be overwhelmingly fascinated by shiny things, to the point where the shiny things become the impetus for everything else.

maybe I'm reading too much into this.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

Do you feel the same way about laptops?

How about books?

Or should everyone just stare placidly into space, doing nothing?

Don't tell me that we should be interacting with each other on the bus, because the last place I want to meet people and make friends is on my morning commute. Not that I do that anymore, but I did for roughly 13 years, and, no.