A nutty etiquette question

And have often wondered whether my daughter
bringing a peanut butter sandwich to public school
would be classified as a hate crime, or as a
violation of the weapons policy.

And don't get me started on 'fluff....

Chunky style, or smooth?

The song says his wife would meet him every day at Government Center to hand him a sandwich. I presume he had to eat it on the train. Perhaps he was grandfathered as a pre-existing, nonconforming condition.

I think the CharlieCard image even is a take-off on that part of the song mentioned above. At least that's the part of the song the image brings to mind. Instead of a sandwich, he's holding a CharlieCard.

I was going to take the sandwich-eaters side, but the injudicious use of "LOL" forces me to take hers.

...it's mostly treatable. Both with medication, and by building up resistance. You need only be exposed to small but ever so slightly increasing doses, until your body doesn't flip out- obviously for some people the minimum dose is gonna be pretty small, but it's still possible. Been largely proven to work with almost anything people are allergic to, too.

Even a green line train gives you enough room that you can get far enough from peanut butter that it wouldn't be an issue.

Also, who cares if he's eating peanut butter? Someone with an allergy. Let them tell him he's about to give them a medical emergency.

To yell at someone for creating some sort of high risk situation for some sort of hypothetical peanut-allergic person who isn't even present to complain...

is..

nuts.

I've always found people eating on the T distateful. Sure, having a closed container like coffee or tea or a soda seems ok, but then you consider how much of that gets left behind in the T car for people to either sit on or get picked up, it goes to show you that some people are just inconsiderate pigs. If you are in such a rush that you have to eat in public, wake up five minutes earlier.

Eating peanut crackers on the T? What are you, 3 years old?

I'm surprised with all the self entitlement around here, someone hasn't tried to prohibit or limit consumption on the T. Then again, there are no smoking signs at every T stop but people still smoke along the Green line. The only way to actually have people pay attention to these rules is to ENFORCE them. I'd rather see a T cop out there ticketing people for smoking or eating then in riot gear over at Savin Hill because two homies decided to have a throw down, but hey thats just me.

People living in the cradle of freedoom sometimes are woefully ignorant. As a bystander, I do pick up trash now and again as I'm getting off the T; of course most of the time that is BostonNow or the Metro. If people are so outraged against yellow books, why tolerate one garbage newspaper, let alone two? Anyhow, that's just...one man's opinion. ;)

First off, its rude to be eating on the T. I don't care how busy you are. Trains are tight, enclosed spaces and eating on them is bound to be rude and insensitive to your fellow riders. The T isn't a kitchen or a dining room. You want to eat, bring that bagel into work and eat at your desk. Or at least eat it while walking on the streets. In an enclosed space, its just horribly rude to force strangers into being at your kitchen table. Or force them to BE your kitchen table if you make a mess as I've often seen people do. The polite and respectful thing to do is not eat there.

Look, we're talking about a subway or trolly. This isn't a train or bus you'll be on for hours. Those modes of transportation are also designed to allow for some small level of privacy in the seats so its not nearly as rude as doing it on commuter transit. We're also not talking about something harmless. I figure, if you'd need to wash something to clean it if your food dropped, it doesn't belong on a crowded (or even potentially crowded) train. I'm pretty certain you can't wipe off peanut butter and be good to go. Its disgusting and disrespectful.

Beyond all that, though, the woman who told him to stop might have a close friend or family member with severe peanut allergies and is sensitive to those issues. They may have wanted this person to be aware of that, and how they are putting their desires over the safety of other people. And since the bagel eater was being rude in the first place, I don't think her taking it upon herself to say that is rude. I don't think the bagel eater was trying to hurt anyway, but they were being rude and self-important to use the T as their kitchen table.

I'm with the folks who think that eating on the T is rude, especially when it's crowded. I admit that in my teens I did eat on buses and streetcars all the time, but I stopped after a ride on a jam-packed B Line car when a woman standing over me (I was seated) was eating a pita sandwich and DROPPING ALFALFA SPROUTS INTO MY OPEN TOTE BAG! When I reacted she made a halfhearted apology but continued to munch - apparently it was my job to get my goods out of the way of her falling food waste. Ugh. I realized the error of my own way and swore off the practice. (I did eat on the commuter rail when I had to go straight from work to dance practice for a couple of years, but only when I had no seatmate, and I was always careful to avoid leaving crumbs or scraps behind.)

The real objections here seem to be about crudeness and consideration. Food waste left on the T is littering. Someone dropping food into your bag is an asshole. The same way that it is possible to have a private phone conversation at a reasonably soft level on the train, there are ways to eat something on the subway that are not intrusive on the average fellow passenger. The problem isn't with the fact that a person is eating, just like the problem isn't that someone is making a phone call. It's how considerate they are in how they act in a crowd.

For example, someone trying to eat a sloppy joe in a capacity green line train is wrong to do so. Someone eating a candy bar (and placing the wrapper back in their bag/pocket) in a half empty red line car is not going to be an issue.

Shades of grey. Since it's reasonable to expect that someone might have a food or drink on the T, people will just have to act with courtesy towards each other. If the guy is making no mess with peanut butter and bread, then chastising him for eating his sandwich with the idea that a hypothetical "someone" might have a severe peanut reaction is not reasonable. Only 1% of children had any sort of peanut allergy in a 2003 medical prevalence survey. On top of that, 25% of all children with the allergy grow out of it as an adult. That leaves, what, 0.75% of the adult population or something like that? Clearly this is a case of "if someone says they're allergic and can't move away from you, then be considerate and wait to have your peanut butter".

What if I don't even have my food out? What if I just picked up a nice Thai Satay and it's steaming peanut oils out of the bag I'm carrying it home in? That same hypothetical person is going to have issues and I'm not even eating anything! Do I have to walk home if I purchase anything that might be an allergen? Peanuts, fish, perfumes, oils, scents, soaps, pet dander...all possible allergens. Who would ride the T? Guys who just got off work at the BL4 lab at BUMC and microchip manufacturers who both work in cleansuits?

My point is that if we all act considerately, we can eat, drink, and be merry on the T regardless of the minor risks to some others that can be met, again, with consideration on a case-by-case basis.

Eating on the T is just unsightly. I've witnessed people spreading out over two seats and really delving in on it. Plus, didn't your mother ever tell you it was impolite to eat in front of others when you didn't have enough for everyone else????

And while we're on this, let's add those who think nothing of completing their morning toilette on the train going to work. Get up 30 minutes earlier and put your face on at home!

BTW: Eating and drinking on Muni trains and buses here in San Francisco is strictly verboten. None of the subway stations have coffee/food outlets to tempt you and aside from a few smarty-pants kids on the streetcars after school, I've yet to see anyone do it. Plus, Muni officers conduct random surprise inspections checking for passes and transfers. Open drink containers or eating will get you a ticket just as fare evasion will.