Posted July 14 at 11:03 a.m.

Happy Monday, fellow commuters.  Hope your ride in wasn't too much of a public transit pain this morning. 

Speaking of pain, I had an interesting experience on a bus lately, during which a man decided to sit cross-legged on a crowded bus, as if he were in some kind of yoga class that nobody else knew about.   I was sitting in a seat facing west, and he was adjacent to me facing the direction of travel, but his knobby knees jabbed me at least three times.

I kept moving over, but didn't want to land in the lap of the gentleman to my left, so I just endured slight CTA suffering until Cross Legs finally exited the bus.  Ridiculous. 

His actions even influenced me to ponder the most irritating public transit poses:

(1) The Lean: Where a rider sits in one seat but then leans on the one next to him, essentially blocking a seat. To sweeten the pot, some put their whole arm across the back of the seat.  What, are the rest of us riders in your personal car?

(2) The Side Sit: This is where a rider places his or herself in the outside seat and then swivels -- only slightly-- if someone else wants the window.  Here's  a tip: Move in, or get all the way up to allow others to pass.)

(3) The Sprawl: Rotten rider take up two seats, sprawling out on bus or "L" seats as if he or she were at home on a couch.  It's worse if Sprawler falls asleep and snores.

(4) The Stance: Men usually affect this pose where they sit with their legs spread wide, as if daring you to graze them when you try to sit beside them.

Seen any annoying public transit poses lately?  Heck, if you've got a photo of one, send it over too.  Those camera phones can be pretty handy. 

The Lean 2: Usually a guy stands leaning against a pole instead of using it as a hand hold. This means no one else can hold on to that pole.

This post reminded me of this woman on the Broadway bus a few days ago. I got on at Belmont, and I think that she was on there then, although I'm not sure because I didn't notice her until the bus got crowded.

See, she was sitting in the first row of front facing seats once you get on the bus. In front of her were the priority seats that fold up. People were sitting in them, though; they weren't folded. Anyway, she was in the aisle and the window seat was empty. Everything was fine until, as usual on Broadway, the bus started filling up. She had her hand on the metal pole and was basically elbowing everyone that even remotely attempted to sit in that seat. She even put her elbow in some little kids' faces!

The bus was packed. All the seats were full and people were standing even in the far back of the bus. Finally, she got off at Montrose and people were laughing, probably at the fact she was so staunchly defending that seat even though people were standing in the aisle and looming over her to her right.

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