Living in New York City is wonderful. Everyone knows that. There’s really nowhere else to live.
Not if you want to have your world broken open on any random Tuesday night.
Or if you want to be casually walking to your friend’s apartment and catch your breath as you catch a glimpse of that gorgeous One World Trade Center on a Friday evening.
Don't get me wrong, living in NYC is amazing. But sometimes, it does suck-- even if it is just momentarily.
So here are 10 enraging moments that'll make you regret living in NYC (but just for a second). So how many have you experienced?
1. When a guy with one leg says, “Can you spare a dollar for a veteran?”
And you really can’t because you only have $6 in your wallet. And you’re going to use $1 to buy coffee before work, and $5 for your yoga class later on.
Yes, it really sucks that that guy lost his leg protecting our country, but you’re just can't afford to spare him a buck right now.
The best you can do is give him a sort of shrug and grimace, and keep walking-- wondering why living in NYC seems to constantly leave your empathy levels depleted.
2. When you get tricked
Panhandlers have all sorts of stories. One guy told me his father was in surgery and he just needed money for a train ticket. I didn’t give him any money, because of what happened to me the year before:
A guy at Penn Station told me his wife was in the hospital and that he just needed $8 for a bus. I could barely scrape together enough money to buy myself a sandwich at Subway, but I gave him the money.
Then, I went to the bathroom and when I came back out, he was begging someone else for another $8.
Sucks that that liar had to ruin my generosity for everyone.
3. When the East Village blows up
If someone, like an enemy, had blown up the East Village, we’d all be up in arms. We’d be ready to duke it out whoever had the gall to think they could mess with us.
But when a building explodes on a casual Thursday afternoon in the East Village, and two people died, and the explosion is due to a “gas related accident,” it kind of makes you shake your head.
Reportedly, a restaurant owner smelled gas but didn’t call 911? So disappointing.
4. When you step in dog poop
Please, just pick up your dog’s poop. What's so hard about that? I don’t love having to look at it while I’m walking to the subway, but stepping in it is where I draw the line.
You took on the responsibility to have a dog, take on the responsibility to pick up their poop. I’m suffering and dogless here, and that’s mostly because I don’t want to pick up poop.
Bottom line: you made the commitment to have a dog, make a simple commitment to pick up their poop too.
5. Smelly people riding the subway
I know it sucks more for that guy that he hasn’t showered in six months than it does for me that I have to smell him, but, oh man.
The olfactory combination of feces, vomit, and body odor on a homeless person in the contained environment of a subway car is enough to make me dry heave until the glorious moment when I can switch cars.
And yes, I feel bad dry-heaving in front of that guy. I know it’s worse for him that he can’t take a shower or poop in a toilet.
But the smell is pretty bad for me.
,6. The moment you get catcalled
Can we just give this a break already? I know this is a revolutionary concept, but women are humans. And we don’t like being made to feel like sex objects while we’re walking down the street.
Crazy, right? I wish I could scream in the face of every catcaller, but I can’t. You're better than that, NYC. Now step it up.
7. When you can’t get a job
Millions of people in this city must mean millions of job openings, right? Well, it doesn’t. The least they could do is respond to job inquiries, am I right?
Can all employers that post a job opening just draft a default rejection letter that gets mailed to every applicant after you delete their application? That way we can all stop checking our emails to see if you emailed us back?
8. When your subway line isn’t running on the weekends
Really, MTA? Thought you’d bump up the fares and then not run the 6 train all weekend? And the 4 and 5 aren't making local stops, either?
How’d you think we were going to get around? It’s kind of lame to pay $116.50 for an “unlimited” 30-day MetroCard and then have to pay for cabs all weekend.
Not consistently running a subway that New Yorkers desperately depend on seems pretty “limited” to me.
9. Stop and frisk
I’m sorry, but "stop and frisk" is just a lame excuse for racial profiling. And in 2015, racial profiling isn't what this country should be about.
Also, it seems like a pretty obvious violation of the Fourth Amendment to me. So I don’t understand how it's even legal.
The point is, no one should have to be afraid of the police. I shouldn’t have to get scared when they get on the subway and I don’t even have anything illegal in my bag.
And I know they probably won’t even search me, just because I’m a white girl.
10. When you’re poor
This is the super obvious glaring flaw of New York City. If we’re being real, living in NYC is amazing. I don’t want to live anywhere else.
And yet, when I have to pay $15 covers to get into bars, and then pay $14 for drinks at those bars, then I have to pay $30 for a cab ride home, and way, way more than all of that every time I have to buy groceries (let’s not even talk about rent) NYC can get pretty depressing.
It’s especially depressing when my friends in other cities are all planning international vacations, and I’m just worried about paying my rent and having enough money to eat lunch.
And it's especially depressing when I'm trying to buy $15 of vegetables at the grocery store and my credit card gets declined.
If you enjoyed this article, check out more Insanely Annoying Things That Make You Want to Leave NYC!