Mind Your MBTA Manners: Enough with the Bags Already

Okay, okay, we get it. You work a very important job that does not allow you time to eat and thus you must pack your breakfast, lunch, and dinner in separate neoprene lunch totes (color-coded, of course) for consumption at your desk. You must then carry around all of these neoprene totes in a neoprene duffel. You must also carry around an additional duffel bag full of indeterminate items (presumably workout gear) to show others that You Work Out, or at least You Carry Around a Bag That Might Contain Workout Gear. And if you're a woman, naturally you need a massive purse (perhaps a Birkin, though that's so last year) as well, because women do love those. What's the final touch to your bag-laden (but certainly not bag lady) ensemble? Why, a neighbor on the MBTA to hit with your bag(s), of course!

Admittedly, yuppies with too much stuff to cart around are by no means the only bag offenders on the T. College students with backpacks are just as common, but they often act a bit less entitled and more willing to adjust their bag situation for others. Bags on the T aren't always as much a matter of size as awareness. If you recognize that you are carrying a large load, and take steps to make sure it's not interfering with others, you're probably cool. But if you use your bag as a beacon of your own douchebaggery—saving seats, taking up the space of three people, or letting the bag swing freely and bruise the bodies of those standing around you—you deserve a fate worse than death, and a neoprene coffin (sorry, "sleeve") to boot. So check your bag before someone wrecks your bag (or your face). And think about leaving some stuff at home from time to time—if nothing else, it'll save you the hassle of an MBTA search.