My wife travels fairly often on business, and like myself she is a people watcher.
A few business trips back, she had arrived back in Atlanta and was riding the airport’s automated people mover (APM). The APM moves fast–it has to with a service claim of “less than two-minute wait times between trains”. Any one that rides it knows you should hold on when standing (there are few seats). There is an automated message advising folks to hold on, as a matter of fact.
Well, on this particular ride–there was a man standing opposite to a mother standing with her small child in a stroller. The guy was not holding on to anything and when the train took off he lurched forward, stumbling off balance, and narrowly missing landing on the child. Everyone was quite alarmed, understandably–yet relieved, of course. The mood changed quietly at first as it became apparent the guy was not going to acknowledge his minor miscalculation and apologize to the mother in some way. This bothered my wife, but she opted to mind her own business.
Such was not the reaction to a fellow standing nearby who loudly said: “The man almost fell on the baby!” At first, he said it in a state of disbelief. Then as the stumbler still refused to acknowledge what happened, the other fellow said it more loudly and emphatically. “THE MAN NEARLY FELL ON THE BABY!” This went on for a few more moments with increasing indignation about the man’s near miss, mostly to the amusement of everyone, except for the stumbler–of course.
So now, whenever my wife comes home from a trip, or if she’s on a trip and one of us is in need of a laugh–one of us will toss out: “The man almost fell on the baby!” Works every time.