How bus passengers avoid each other

Yale University sociologist Esther Kim traveled thousands of miles on buses to study "nonsocial transient behavior," basically how passengers keep their distance. Of course, the most obvious unspoken rule is that you should never sit beside someone if you can avoid it. Kim published her study in the journal Symbolic Interaction.

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"We engage in all sorts of behavior to avoid others, pretending to be busy, checking phones, rummaging through bags, looking past people or falling asleep, (Kim said.) Sometimes we even don a 'don't bother me face' or what's known as the 'hate stare'."

The best advice from Kim's fellow passengers was:

• Avoid eye contact with other people
• Lean against the window and stretch out your legs
• Place a large bag on the empty seat
• Sit on the aisle seat and turn on your iPod so you can pretend you can't hear people asking for the window seat.
• Place several items on the spare seat so it's not worth the passenger's time waiting for you to move • them.
• Look out the window with a blank stare to look crazy
• Pretend to be asleep
• Put your coat on the seat to make it appear already taken
• If all else fails, lie and say the seat has been taken by someone else

"Strangers on a bus: Study reveals lengths commuters go to avoid each other"



(CC-licensed image by Mr Novelty)