Trainger, meaning train anger, is the anger you feel while you are on a train, usually as a commuter. As someone who takes commuter trains to and from work in the summer, I am familiar with trainger. One of my main sources of frustration is that I wake up predawn to catch a train to take me to the cubicle jungle where I work. It’s a fine workplace and a fine cubicle, relatively speaking, but I would like it a lot more if I didn’t have to wake up at six in the morning to get there. If I’m going to wake up at six, there should at least be some roller coasters involved. Admittedly, my early wake ups are not the fault of the train, but trainger isn’t always logical. My second source of frustration is the people on the train. I feel less traingry since the second floor quiet zones have been put into effect on commuter trains. However, every once in a while, a rogue
commuter isn’t deterred by the quiet zone and the capital punishment that is the penalty for breaking the silence (oh, that isn’t the penalty?) and decides to have a friendly phone conversation. If Timmy’s stuck in a well and you’re receiving a call about it, by all means, talk away. But if you’re calling to inquire about what’s for dinner, have mercy on the people around you and send a text message. Luckily, the mass is on my side on this one and is more than willing to turn into a raging train mob if the ne’er-do-well does not cease and desist. My third and most problematic source of trainger is train delays. Sometimes it seems like everything is going smoothly until the train decides to crawl through the last few stops. Perhaps there’s good reason for the train to slow down, like another train or a car or a family of deer. But in the same way that a traffic jam always seems unreasonable when you don’t know the cause, train delays always seem unnecessary because even if there’s a family of deer doing the can-can on the tracks, I can’t see it, so it seems like the conductor is just wasting my sweet time. I know that a lot of my trainger could be avoided if I managed my time better in the morning or I used a pair of noise cancelling headphones, but I never take the initiative to make the change. I also know the end result of my train induced anger is probably going to be something like getting beaten up for wearing an eye patch like the man in the DIRECTV commercial, though throttling the next person who is loudly slurping on an iced capp is more likely. In conclusion, trainger is real and it’s dangerous. I can’t speak to the experience of subway or bus anger, and I don’t want to make this a forum for cyclists or drivers to vent about their traffic-induced anger, as I commute by neither bicycle nor car, but I think that angry commutes are an experience that transcends borders. Maybe we would all be better off working from home.
Song of the Day: If I Had a Tail by Queens of the Stone Age
