New York is dirty. Crap is just strewn everywhere. The subway is the same, with the addition of regular appearances by giant rats. I used to wonder where all that litter comes from. Recently, I've seen a few things.
A few weeks ago, I was standing in the subway platform for the Jamaica Center Station. There were many people waiting with me, some talking, others like me, impatiently and slowly peering for the first signs of a train. I heard a sickening splat, the kind of sound that everyone instantly recognizes as the sound of vomit hitting the floor. I looked to see what was happening, and the only thing I saw from that direction was a man standing right over the tracks, talking on his cellphone. As I watched, he continued talking, and leans over to casually throw up on the tracks. He resumes his conversation without a pause. This routine continues until my train comes.
A week after that, I'm waiting for my train to go to work, and I happen to glance over to a woman on the other side of the tracks. She was in her forties, in business atire. She nonchalantly threw her soda on the tracks. She was less than ten feet from a trash can.
Just today, I was riding on the train, and heard an odd groan. I looked up and see a giant of a man groan again. Then he starts muttering to himself. He is holding a cup. He then announces to no one in particular that he is going to crush the cup, which he proceeds to do with his foot. He leaves the flattened cup right there. Of course, no one wanted to tell this troubled giant to pick it up. But even if it was a short, weak, psychologically stable fellow, I doubt anyone would say anything. This is New York, and no one wants any trouble.