Friday March 4, 2016
This week’s task was to get someone on the bus/T to give up their seat for me.
My
strategy was to discreetly untie my sneaker and ask someone if I could have
their seat so that I could tie my sneaker. During the morning commute everyone
seated on the train is either sleeping or listening to music.
For the afternoon commute my plan was to get on at Downtown
Crossing and get a seat at State, which I did, then give it to someone, then ask
that person for the seat for just one stop so that I could tie my sneaker.
Because of the movement of the train I felt it was unsafe for someone to get up
out of their seat while the train was moving. Especially from North Station to
Community College where the train travels at a high rate of speed.
Obviously my strategy was not good, too many moving parts.
The best bet would be to ask for a seat right after I get on the train or
before it starts moving.
Monday March 7, 2016
For some reason the T was not as packed as usual for the
morning commute. I ended up getting a seat next to the door at North Station. I
asked the person next to me if they would give me their seat in exchange for
mine because I was superstitious about seating next to the door. Technically
this fulfilled the challenge as written which was to get someone to give up
their seat for me. I don’t know how many points I will get for this task because
I didn’t take away someone’s opportunity to have a seat.
As far as the moral stakes there are two things I will not
do, ask a woman for her seat or fake an injury or illness to get something or
get out of doing something. I didn’t feel bad about faking a superstition to
exchange seats. What I learned is that if you ask someone nicely and your story
is plausible most people will honor a reasonable request as long as it does not
present a discomfort or inconvenience to them.
Good persistence and good example of a way to accomplish the task without violating your ethics! This is a big win! 5 points.
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