There are lots of crazy news to read these days. But when it comes to absurd
things (things, normal people won’t do, usually!) then it makes me think what
could have moved person XY to do such a silly thing. In this news the
person has died shitting between platform and train and fell into the track.

What may sound funny to you (and initially to me also, to be honest) made me thoughtful later on.

Why would one risk his life doing his business at a busy platform (not only that thousands of people could observe you but also that an inrushing train could catch you and drag you into the track) ? In this case we won’t ever know as the person is dead now.

• Does the MTA (Manhattan Transport Authority) fail to build restrooms in the stations?
• Do the restrooms cost an unusual high usage fee the man could not pay for resp. was not willing to pay for?
• Was the man drunk?
• Did someone tip him over?
• Is there really no surveillance camera that has recorded that scene?

Several questions. And almost no answers.

One thing is for sure: Will we see another pictogram at the stations’ entrances soon?

One like this:

Defecation into track forbidden!
Danger from approaching trains!

Let’s see what will come. We already have notes about “Caution, content may be hot” on coffee cups (yes, fresh coffee indeed tends to be hot, so a normal person wouldn’t take a big careless sip of it. RV manuals have notes like “Cruise control doesn’t take care of steering” (yeah, I know, the english language has some ‘false friends’ there but Cruise control actually only holds the speed!) and microwave ovens have pictograms with small animals or notes like “Don’t dry your pet in the microwave oven” in their manuals imprinted.

What seems common and logical to europeans, seems to be only logical to american people if there’s a law prohibiting it… *sigh*