Having lived in the UK for years, it's very clear to me there is a big gap in terms of the standard of manners between UK and HK, and it is in public transports you're guaranteed to see some pretty bad manners, including rushing to board the train without letting other passengers alight first; people not giving up seats to old dears or pregnant women; nose picking; insisting on standing by the doors just so that it's easier for them to get off, but blocking other people's way; and most typically, fighting for seats. And I saw a very funny example of two guys fighting over a seat this morning.
On my way to work, I caught the tube (or commonly known as the MTR in HK) at Kowloon Tong station, there was a "Gwai Lo" (*A slang term for male westerners in Chinese) next to me and smiled at me and I smiled back. when the tube came, we both boarded the same carriage. I went to the row of seats on the left and he went to the right. I got myself a seat first and I looked around to see where he was, I saw him approaching the only spare seat on the whole row on his side, which was literally right in front of him, all he had to do was to sit his butt down. Then, all of a sudden, a Chinese guy in his twenties wearing a red top emerged from nowhere (I guess he was in another carriage and spotted the seat), he ran over and sneaked into the seat this Gwai Lo guy was about to take. By doing this, he actually pushed this gwai lo guy out of the way as he was squeezing into that seat. I was gobsmacked, so was this gwai lo, but I could tell he was more pissed off than anything.
I'm sure he wasn't really pissed off over merely loosing a seat but actually because of the rudeness of this guy. The gwai lo froze for a second, then his face turned red and he looked extremely annoyed, what he did, he didn't shout at this guy (which I would) or hit him, and he could easily win as he was a tall guy in his thirties (I guess) and quite well built, at least not wimpy looking like this young Chinese guy who just stolen his seat. He crossed his arms and firmly stood right before the wimpy guy, so close, his feet were actually touching the wimp's, from there he glared down at him fiercely, as if saying to him, "How dare you! Bxxtard!" And he stood in that position and distance with the same dagger look and glaring for the whole 15 minutes journey, right to the last stop but one. Because he was standing right in front of this wimp, any movement the wimp made would have touched the gwai lo, which I'm sure, would have sparked off a good argument or, most likely, a fight. I could tell the gwai lo was trying very hard not to punch this guy one. The wimp was so frightened, he knew damn right that he wasn't in any position to stand up to the big guy and just froze, looked away awkwardly and maintained the same posture the whole journey, avoiding eye contact with this towering figure in front of him.
The gwai lo guy saw me watching and smiling, I gave him a nod as some sort of approval / encouragement of his way of dealing with a rude dickhead like this one. This wimp so deserved it. When the guy who sat next to the wimp got up to get off the train, the wimp seized the opportunity and swiftly slid his arse across to the next seat and then got up at his quickest speed and flew out of the door.
I saw a smile of victory on the gwai lo's face at the same funny scene of how this wimp made his escape. He then sat down on the next seat. When we got off at the same station, I smiled and said "Well done! He deserved that, that should teach him a lesson." He just smiled and shook his head and said,"Unbelievable! This guy ...." I said," So, did he wet himself? Is that why you didn't take his seat after all?" He chuckled, and then we said goodbye and went our separate ways.
