Ohhhh, I love these threads. Here are my annoyances, some of which have already been mentioned:
1. I will not sit next to kids under any circumstances. If some uncontrolled brat gets my coat or pants dirty with his/her shoes, the parent will be hearing about it.
2. People who block the escalators to the B/D/F/M at Herald Square. If anyone's gone down them, you know they're not wide enough for someone to pass. So I have to wait behind some lazy individual who is standing there, riding down as the trains close their doors. If for some reason you can't walk, use the freaking elevator.
3. Men who spread their legs. I don't buy it that your "boys" need that much room. Besides, it's not worth the pain when I sit down next to you and take my space back by pushing your leg in.
4. People who don't let others through the turnstile when the train is in the station. That goes for people coming off the train, and the Metrocard-fumblers outside the gate.
5. The crazies who don't let you off the train before they come barging in. What happened to common sense and courtesy?
6.
People who don't/won't read. I understand if you're new here or a tourist and are lost...but how are you going to walk into a train and yell out "IS THIS THE A TRAIN??" when the red
1 bullet is plastered all over the side? No one answered the last time that happened and I wanted to shake the hand of everyone who remained silent. I was in Stockholm recently...I didn't speak enough Swedish to understand the subway announcements and directions, which weren't duplicated in English. Didn't lose my way once because I actually bothered to look at the map and at least know which line was which and where they went.
7. People who aren't fat but still manage to take up 2-3 seats. I took a photo once of two average-sized men taking up 6 seats. It was unreal.