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Woman realizes with a shock she's becoming a Masshole
By adamg on Wed, 08/17/2016 - 9:39am
Kate Fussner reports she's kept her inner Masshole in check behind the wheel even as she now has to deal with a Roslindale-to-Dorchester commute, but that she realized with a start one day in the North End - when stuck walking behind a clot of tourists shuffling in search of a cannoli - that the snarling beast is no longer far from the surface and she's now as ready to hate everyone around her as the rest of us.
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Comments
"Don’t people know that real
"Don’t people know that real people live here?"
Yup, that sums it up nicely. "I'm the only/most important person on this street/sidewalk/this town, everyone else is a loser and is in my way"
when you use the most selfish transportation method...
...don't be surprised when you become incredibly selfish.
How is walking the most
How is walking the most selfish transportation method? She was walking in the North End.
the article is about driving from W. Rox to Dorchester
n/t
No, it's about the author becoming a local
Aka, a Masshole.
She is still patient and polite behind the wheel, but walking down the street she is finding a rage against slowpokes from Iowa clogging the lane barely moving.
Read some of the comments on this website by people who claim never to drive. Driving is an expression of Massholeness, but not a prerequisite.
consider hopping on a bike
and getting out of that car - you might feel a little better! Worst case scenario, you're no longer driving a weapon.
Sure,
nothing like riding a bike in traffic with a bunch of Mass-holes.
Many of the cars are non
Many of the cars are non local and they don't even know the local roads.
I don't think that's the worst case
Worst case would be more like "I'm still surrounded by thousands of people piloting multi-thousand-pound bludgeoning weapons at high speeds, but now I'm not encased in a metal frame designed to protect me when they inevitably crash into me."
She was out of that car
Read a little closer.
From the last line on the blog post:
So pedestrians are Massholes, too.
Biking
in this city can be even more frustrating than driving.
"a weapon"
*scoffs* ugh, liberals.
Nope
cyclists.
Nope
Cars are weapons. They kill vastly more people than any other transport mode.
You need
You need some new reading skills.
Here, I'll spell it out for you:
jackattck scoffed at calling cars weapons, suggesting liberals all felt this way.
I, on the other hand, was correcting jackattck to say that cyclists were calling cars weapons, not liberals. Not all liberals are cyclists and not all cyclists are liberals.
Learn how to 'reply' on this medium, please.
the other people on the sidewalk might not like that
She was walking - behind slow tourists.
Kate Fussy
i read that and all i heard was "waaaaaaah." get a job in Westborough if you're such a miserable SOB in Boston traffic.
Oh, lighten up, will ya...
she is trying to be humorous.
She lives in Roslindale, so...
I think maybe you have failed to think through your cunning "get a job in the suburbs and you won't have to drive in the city!" plan.
not thought through your cunning plan
is the understatement of the day, and/or a tacit admission that one never leaves a 5 mile bubble centered on neighborhood Boston.
reverse commute
reverse commute really isn't that bad. i did it for 5 years.
Yeah driving into town on the
Yeah driving into town on the Pike at 5 on a gameday is a joy.
Actually, reverse commutes are better.
Reverse commutes are better and put one at an advantage, because they're going against the rush-hour traffic rather than with it. I did that for afew years, when I worked part-time as a piano tuner in a couple of piano stores. I'd commute a couple of times a week from Somerville to Providence, RI, and, later, to Waltham, and a bunch of other places. The northbound side of the Southeast Expressway was like a parking lot, while the southbound side at rush-hour, while the volume was still fairly heavy, moved pretty smoothly. The same thing with Route 128. Reverse commutes are easier on one's overall well-being, too.
I'd rather live in the city and commute out of the city for the workday, than to commute from the 'burbs or 'boonies into the city, but that's my take on it.
Yes and no
Like anything, the reverse commute is complicated. I've lived in Boston and Somerville for the last 15 or so years. I've worked in Metro West, the Merrimack Valley, and whatever you call the Boxboro/Acton/Littleton area (3 different locations there).
All 5 locations had what you would call a reverse commute, but in every case, the reverse-ness only regularly applies to leaving the city in the morning, and maybe 1/5 days coming home at night. I say this based on my experience with the Pike, 93, 95 (worst worst worst) and Rt 2. The Pike is clogged by interactions with 95 and 495 that do not care in which direction you're travelling. Rt. 2 has issues at 95 (relatively minor) and where you enter Cambridge, which also suffers from the "I don't care which way you're going, this traffic is for errrbody" syndrome.
And my current commute has me travelling south on 93 in the evening. It is reverse insomuch as most days my traffic is less than the traffic headed North on 93, but that is small solace when it takes me 80 minutes (which is the case for my worst 1/50 of commutes home) to travel 16 miles. The proximate cause of that is that the people heading south on 93 from downtown or other in-city locations actually back up 93S through the city and onto the northern apron to the O'Neil Tunnel and that can propagate to the start of the HOV lane in Medford-ville.
So it can be better, but better is a relative term. It can still be terrible. On the whole, I prefer this, but it's not my optimal solution.
But if she lives in Roslindale
and commutes to Dorchester, she never leaves Boston.
Unless she took paratransit.
Unless she took paratransit. The RIDE might route her via Newton or Quincy.
She nails it
The only time I've been tempted to join facebook was when I heard there's a group called "I Want to Punch the Person Slow-Walking In Front of Me."
And before the how-dare-yous pile on, yes, I get that we depend on tourism money, and some people can't help being slow, and people with kids shouldn't be condemned to stay inside until their kids are 30, and not everyone is accustomed to walking in a city, and and and
I should point out that I have never actually punched a slow walker. I am proud of that.
Cue the keyboard warrior
Cue the keyboard warrior outrage... watch out, Kate Fussner! They're aiming for you!
More succinctly stated...
I hate everyone, everywhere, all the time.
(And I didn't even grow up around here, but happily living my entire adult life here has been enough. The feeling goes away upon going westa Worcester or to Vermont. It intensifies in New Hampshire. Status quo for Maine. Going south just makes my skin crawl ;)
Just human nature....
To be annoyed at tourists.....People stop in the middle of the sidewalk to shoot a picture of a church I walk by twice a day for 240 workdays. So i just take the church for granted, but to the tourist it's important..
Sounds like the real story is
Driving cars makes people miserable.
Only
If you didn't read the entirety of the blog entry.
She was walking, not driving.
She was walking, not driving.
Roslindale to Dorchester commute should be pretty easy, no?
Not going anywhere near the central business district, not using I-93 or the Pike or Storrow or 128. (And yes, a bike might be reasonable at least during good weather; 6 miles is about a half hour ride.)
No its a pain in the ______
And once school starts it a nightmare with the added buses.
Ideally
Since she's commuting to her job as a Public School Teacher, she's off the roads before the buses.
Forest Hills
Driving by Forest Hills on the way to Dorchester at anytime past 3 in the afternoon is enough to make someone write this post.
Good. Good.
Let the hate flow through you.
Nope
No. Don't hold the local citizenry in contempt in order to justify and excuse YOUR bad behavior. If you are losing your sht you need to own it.
Or move back to whatever
Or move back to whatever state that they believed was so clearly better before they felt the need to leave.
Hard to believe
Did she never have to cross the street? Did she never leave her house? Massholes are EVERYWHERE.
My thoughts exactly
I drive about every few months and take the T about once per week. The rest of the time I walk, and let me tell you, the masshole vibe comes out every time I try to cross the freaking street. Either cars won't let you cross the street at all, or they let you and act all passive-aggressive about it. They act like having to slow down 1 mile per hour to let you finish crossing the street is the most inconvenient thing in the world. And don't get me started on drivers who don't yield to pedestrians who are both in a striped crosswalk and have the walk sign. These people are the definition of masshole.
I usually try to walk pretty fast when I cross the street to inconvenience the drivers as little as possible, but I'm getting so fed up I'm ready to start crossing the street in slow turtle mode. Ready to do some pedestrian massholery myself.
Oh, and all you jaywalkers are the ones who probably started all this driver/pedestrian feud in the first place. Just stop it already! You are putting the rest of us in danger. And I'm not talking about crossing without a crosswalk when there's no traffic. I mean those people who basically just cross the street whenever they feel like, usually walking slow, right in the line of moving traffic. JUST. STOP. IT!
agreed, but...
I'm a T rider/pedestrian as well & agree with both of you-- at different times, different jobs and apartments, I've had to cross either Atlantic Avenue or Surface Artery daily and nearly peed myself on more than one occasion.
Having said that, as a pedestrian, I get more annoyed with other pedestrians than with cars. I'm okay with the Freedom Trail tours, because they're not from around here and have a good excuse anyway.
I am baffled by how a single college student who weighs 110 soaking wet is capable of taking up an entire sidewalk with shopping bags.
I don't know why sports fans need to travel four abreast, like Dorothy & friends in the Wizard of Oz but smellier and wearing Bruins jerseys.
I REALLY do not understand why anyone uses a jog stroller if they're not jogging. Those things are vicious, like the cowcatcher on a steam engine.
I hear ya!
Cars make me fear for my life. Clueless entitled pedestrians sometimes make me wish that a car would just run me down and put me out of my misery.
cities are not for the timid
fefu, if cars make you fear for your life then you may want to rethink living in the city. I've lived in 4 different cities over the past 20 or so years and have dodged cars for sure, but never have I feared for my life. At some point you have to toughen up or move out.
You are being ridiculous
First of all, I was being somewhat hyperbolic. Though I've had about 4-5 close calls with drivers who have come close to hitting me, if not killing me, I don't actually go around fearing for my life. Two of those close calls weren't even in this city but another, much smaller one. Distracted drivers are everywhere, not just here.
Believe me, I'm plenty tough enough to live here and you are being ridiculous. Funny how you single me out when lots and lots of posters on Universal Hub talk about how dangerous drivers are. There's an article here at least once a week about pedestrians being struck.
my favorites
When I'm out walking, my favorite pedestrians are the 'swayers', the ones on their phone who slowly sway from one side of the sidewalk to another. Just when you think you can squeeze by on one side, they close the gap.
Or the ones who stop dead in their tracks because all of a sudden they have to send a text.
New bumpah stickah/variable message
Check Twice, Save Your Own Life...Massholes are EVERYWHERE!
It's inevitable
One becomes a Masshole because everyone else is a Masshole. Not just in driving or biking or any other conveyance. But in everyday behavior. It is socially acceptable, hell, encouraged, to realize one's Masshole potential.
Not that everyone at all times are Masshole. There are plenty of polite, considerate, tempered people in Massachusetts, particular Boston. Yet what appears to be socially acceptable is to be as crude and illmannered as one can be unless there is a prevailing necessity to act otherwise.
It's the reputation of Bostonians across the nation. It also is an old condition. Massachusetts colonists were known for being particularly indepent and downright impudent. That's part of the reason that the English crown came down heavily on Massachusetts.
Is it the sea air? The climate? Perhaps some odd warping of the Earth's magnetic field at this longitude and latitude?
Want to surprise and impress someone from outside Boston? Say yes sir or yes maam or god forbid thank you or even you're welcome. Any will surely say: He or she is not from Boston.
On the other hand that sets a low bar for being polite and considerate.
Maybe people from other
Maybe people from other states can start "impressing" people from here by improving their own state and stop moving here for better opportunities and then stereotyping everyone here. People move here for opportunities, not always to the other way around for things like education.
A considerate thought to be sure, but...
Now that you mention it, I think that I ate some of that Midwestern Nice for breakfast today between South Station and High Street (but, that was after saving someone from being dragged under an 18-wheeler that cut the corner at Atlantic and Summer too short and came on the sidewalk - NB - piss yellow NJ plates on both the cab and trailer)
Hmm...
Now been in Massachusetts for a total of 21 years ... and haven't had this happen to me yet (and I went to the North End on a regular basis during 17 of those years).
Tourists help bring money into our fair city. Our economy would look pretty different if we evaporated all those pesky tourists (and awful out-of-state students).
I don't think that
Any reasonable person wishes that students and/or tourists would go away. I just think most people would love for them to have more self-awareness in public.
Roslindaler
I think she is combining at least two different issues here. First, witnessing a fistfight between a driver and pan handler?! That's not someone being a Masshole, that is called assault (or someone visiting from Maryland). Someone driving through a gas station to turn a corner at a red light is more on the extreme end of Masshole conduct. Likewise rolling through a crosswalk full of pedestrians when they have the walk light. Please take note. Second, people cutting you off is just your own perceived aggression, not someone being a Masshole. If there is room in front of your car, its open space that someone has every right to use. Just be accepting of it. You can use other people's open space too if they choose to leave it because they have no where better to be.
I won't defend our driving habits as harmless. I have lived here my whole life and, I admit it, people from Massachusetts are very bad drivers. Very bad. We deserve the high rates of car insurance we pay as penance for the shameless antics that we claim as birthright. However, if you happen to move here from somewhere else expecting that the customs of where you came from are going to hold here too, well, I'm sorry. Setting aside some truly dangerous things that the true Masshole does (running red lights on purpose, ignoring rotary etiquette), its mostly just an issue of custom, the same way that its customary for people to walk out into the middle of the street whenever they feel like it. Be at peace with it. There is too much else to worry about.
Thank you!
I'm also a life-long Masshole. Thank you for discerning and articulating what true Massholedom entails. Massholery is not confined to driving skills, nor is it synonymous with aggression. There's nuance and subtleties that this lady will never ever grasp or comprehend.
This was a feeble attempt to appropriate Masshole culture as her own.
She is not, nor will she ever be, a Masshole.
So now people are taking
So now people are taking pride in being Massholes and trying to exclude others? That's a whole new level of stupid*
*pardon, Masshole.
Nope. It's pretty obvious
Nope. It's pretty obvious that, like most people, they don't much care for being stereotyped and called ignorant names by people who moved here for a job or opportunity because they state they left didn't have what they wanted.
yep
You either get it or you don't. The people quickest to throw around the term "Masshole" are usually the ones who don't.
In all honesty
As a lifelong Massachusetts Resident (except for college) and multi decades-long Bostonian, I kind of hate the term.
Masshole? Maybe.
I find it impressive how we in Mass are somehow "the worst". So a couple of quick counter points to this article. First, I travel a decent amount for work and have to drive for several days on end in the cities I go to. I'm not talking about to and from the airport, I am talking about actually driving in the city for five days in a row. Here are five cities with drivers just as aggressive, if not more so, than in Boston: New York City, Miami, Washington D.C., Philadelphia, and San Jose. Never mind the entire state of New Jersey. So spare me the "massholes" are the worst thing. There are just more aggressive/bad drivers out there in the world than considerate ones.
Second, in my opinion, a majority of people who live and drive in Boston are transplants. While many transplants were internal to the state of Mass, our colleges, universities and corporations tend to attract a great deal of people from the I-95 corridor. Then they stay and after seven years of having their Jersey, CT, NY, and NH plates they finally register their car in Boston. And continue to drive like maniacs.(Yes, the fact that people skirt paying insurance in Boston drives me nuts. I also think the "out of state college student parking waiver" by Mass DOT is antiquated and needs to go. You spend 10 months a year in Boston, Worcester, Amherst, etc you, er.. sorry, mom and dad, should pay Mass insurance rates.)
Finally, I will fully admit that people in Mass are the WORST (caps for emphasis here) at parking their cars. More than any other state I have been too. People here are just awful, selfish and inconsiderate. Does not matter if it is on the street or in the grocery store parking lot. It is just AWFUL. If blogs were still cool it could be a great one like "piss pawh pahkahs of mass". Come on people, it is not that hard to park within the lines.
Well, having driven
Well, having driven extensively (personally & professionally) in the Northeast - I can't speak to DC, Miami, or San Jose, but can speak knowledgably about NJ, NY, CT & MA.
Yes, Massachusetts drivers are the worst (of that subset).
Yes, the drivers in NJ, NY, CT can be as (or more) aggressive, rude, impatient than MA drivers.
The difference that puts MA in their own level of suck is that drivers in those other places are conventional. With MA drivers, the mix of random, arbitrary, and unprecedented maneuvers & tactics is simply unparalleled.
I disagree
I have found the most consistent drivers to be those during commuting hours. Those folks know where they want to go and aim for it. It's the off-hours where you find the cray cray.
See? I can play this game too!
Basically a transplant
Basically a transplant decided to try to find some funny angle and used a word and stereotype to define an entire area.
The only reason that transplant, and most transplants, are here is because this state has better things than they state they left did. The locals grew up here and participated in that education and economy from the start.
Also, many of the other drivers are transplants, who don't know the roads as well.
Basically, this state is better than others in many ways, and some transplants seem have a hard time adjusting and want to stereotype a lot.
Typed that out quickly and
Typed that out quickly and edited it as was typing. Would go back and edit in some of the grammatical errors.
As an anon
You rank lower than a recently arrived taxpaying citizen. ;)
Seems like the comment
Seems like the comment describes your resentment.
This region has a lot to offer, if you learn to appreciate it and stop making fun of others.
Theres a lot of existential
Theres a lot of existential angstiness on the way there but the author does seem to shuffle (sorry) towards the underlying truth which is that people can be inconsiderate of others in whatever situation. Walks can be just as patience testing as drives anywhere, not just Boston. Groups walking athwart unnecessarily, never yielding to people in front or behind, continuing even when one of their own (usually the junior partner) inevitably falls victim to a hydrant/signpost/trashcan and has to quickstep to catch up the rank so he can avoid the ignominy of embarrassing the leader (who is trying to avoid the appearance of ascribing to hierarchical class distinctions by not walking ahead of his subordinates) by not being precisely parallel to him. It's become a sort of universally recognisable trope you can see anywhere you go. I'd like to do a photo-monograph of all the examples I see of this behavior, but, well, I'm afraid to get in front of any of them long enough to get pictures. I did once succeed in muscling my way into such a group, right next to the chief, no less, but found their business banter too draining and dropped out as unnoticed as I had come in. Best way: just put your head down and plow on through.
I learned a new word today!
I learned a new word today! (athwart)
For being a city full of
For being a city full of highly educated people, they sure do a lot of really dumb things.
What makes a Masshole a Masshole?
Simple: entitlement
To be a Masshole is to believe that one is sufficiently special that you shouldn't have to wait your turn, wait in line, stop for a red light, wait for pedestrians, wait for tourists on the sidewalk, wait for a walk light, wait your turn, or do anything other than be first or be damned.
It is a state of mind where you and only you need to get somewhere or do something, and everyone else is just in the way. Even when you are in the way of everyone else.
The real fun starts when everyone thinks this way. Lots of special snowflakes.
Uh. No. What you said
Uh. No. What you said applies to anyone, anywhere.
The fact you think it only applies to locals here speaks more about a transplant's insecurities than anything you have to say. This is especially true because of how much better this state is than most others in many qualities.
A "special snowflake" is but a transplant who thinks wherever they move to should change for them. It doesn't. Move back if you don't like it. Nothing you said is remotely unique here.
Not really
Massholes are special entitled - even the lowliest working guy has an "excuse" to be special (I was born here - I work for a living - etc.)
Case in point: I was boarding a plane in Seattle. People started making their Own Special ME lines to funnel into the boarding area. The boarding/gate agents were so annoyed by this that they stopped boarding! Then they reminded people that they were not in Boston. Then they said that they wouldn't board anyone until everyone got into a single file line "like adults should know how to do".
So, yeah, it is Boston.
Walking on sidewalks
KEEP TO THE RIGHT....this allows humans and other animals to freely pass in the opposite direction. Unfortunately, many, especially true in areas with many transient residents, visitors, and tourists, walk like they're in a suburban shopping mall on a quiet Sunday afternoon. This doesn't work and is inappropriate for the setting. BE AWARE OF YOUR SURROUNDINGS. MANY walk in groups and WILL NOT MOVE to allow someone to pass them in the opposite direction or to just pass them because they're moving slowly.
LIKEWISE: KEEP TO THE RIGHT GOING UP AND DOWN STAIRS, i.e. subways, etc. Honestly, most locals will adhere to this commonsense policy, but for whatever reason many of our large transient population (tourists, visitors, college students, etc.) do not.
City streets ARE NOT an interstate highway. DON"T act surprised or shocked that there are A LOT of human beings on sidewalks and even on streets. We are not in a rural or outer suburban area.
As a 'local' one of the other pet peeves I have is some people are overly cautious when driving, not to mention passive aggressive. These things are just as irritating as being a hyper aggressive ahole.
Travel note...
The keep to the right rule for stairways (and the matching rule that standees on escalators keep to the right) applies in the Kansai region of Japan (Osaka, Kyoto, etc.) but not the Kanto region (Tokyo et al). It took me a while to adjust to the Tokyo orm -- and then another while to re-adjust to our norm, whe we ended our visit in Kansai. I suspect there are other places in the world that have different practices than our own, so maybe it is best to cut travelers some slack. (No one in busy Tokyo was ever mean to me when I screwed up, BTW).
You're not really a Masshole until you start acting out.
Thinking bad things about "human Winnebagos" is not being a Masshole, yelling at people so they can hear you and hitting is being a Masshole.