Absolutely Disgusting

I step on the bus and I almost want to puke. It looks like someone has--right in front of the back door--but its just some spilled chinese food--lumps of meat in a brown sauce mixed with rice. Then, as I move to the back seat someone has placed a condom in the center seat. Used or unused?--I cant tell.

Most of the other seats and the floor are covered with trash, so there are few places to sit. It smells like rat droppings (and yes I know what rat droppings smell like. I once had a pet rat named Albert.) I was going to get some work done, but Im too disgusted. Instead I curl up in a corner and shield myself with a magazine.

The shared filth is the most difficult element of riding the bus for me. Being a descendant of that American Protestant tradition associated with Catharine Beecher, where cleanliness is a sign of moral goodness, seeing people treat the bus like a garbage pail grates on me and makes me grate my teeth.

For example, why do people feel the need to clip their fingernails on the bus? Its quite funny to me-- people who are so concerned about their personal grooming, find it perfectly acceptable to scatter their detritus on the floor. What do they think, the vibrations from the bus will make the clippings move like little ants to the back door and climb down the stairs at the next stop?