Last Tuesday, my mother had an early morning appointment at the New York Hospital in Flushing, Queens. Since she lives in Flushing, I told her I would meet her there. I forgot that during rush hour, there were no local trains. Looking at the LIRR schedule, I see that I need to get off at Great Neck Station, change to another train to Bayside, and then change yet another train that goes to Flushing. It seems simple enough…or so I thought.
I encountered my first problem when I got to the Great Neck Station and the door didn’t open. A fellow passenger informed me that I needed to move up couple of cars in order to get off the train. (I was standing in back of the train because that’s where the Flushing Station’s exit was located. This is where forward thinking did not pay off!) I panicked and quickly ran down the train. As I ran down the aisle, a horde of commuters from Great Neck station was coming in. I screamed, “Excuse me!” and “I’m sorry!” as I ran toward them, and all the people collectively moved to one side so that I may pass. One gentleman even hollered, “hold the door!” as I ran past him. Luckily, I made it out before the door closed. Had one person even refused to move, I would’ve missed my opportunity to get off the train. So, thank you to the commuters and the conductor on that 7:54 train! The civility of people on that train made my day.
Linda Liu
