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June 24, 2005
stupid monkey
Running into drunk people is kind of a part of daily life here in Kispest, but the other day I had one of the funniest experiences yet. I was coming home with Jon after a class banquet. It was about 12:30 am and we were on the 50é night bus. I was sitting and Jon was standing in front of me and we were talking. At one stop a tall, skinny, very drunk guy got on. He stood right next to me, grabbed the hand rail above my head, flopped his chin onto his chest and stared at me. I knew her was there, but I chose to ignore him. After a few minutes he began to talk. It seemed like he was talking to no one in particular, and it sounded at first like the normal drunk-guy talk. Soon though, I began to suspect that he was talking to me. I still didn't look at him, but I started to try to listen. He was saying, "Get out of my seat! I want to sit there! Move to the back of the bus! Get out!" (All these translations are figurative because my Hungarian isn't that great, and this guy couldn't really form syllables and enunciate. So my translation kind of fills in the details from the words I understood and the floppy gestures he was using). I ignored him for a few minutes, then he started to complain to Jon about me and how I wouldn't get out of his seat. Jon explained that he didn't speak any Hungarian, but that if the gentleman were willing to speak English, he would be happy to talk to him.
So then the drunk guy turned back to me a little more agitated than before. This is where it starts to get funny. Normally when I run into drunk guys on the bus, they curse like sailors, but not this guy. He cursed like a 5 year old. First he said, "You're stupid!" Then he said, "You're a stupid baby." When I ignored him, he got a little more agitated and called me a "stupid monkey". Then he told me to get out of his seat again and I said, "no".So he got really mad and called me, "hülye majom pokol" or "a stupid monkey from hell." While he was yelling this, I was looking around at the other people on the bus and they were laughing because his cursing, though it was loud, was so childish. So when I still refused to give up the seat to him, he pulled out his final volley. He put his fingers on my head and gave me a brain sucker, called me a "hell monkey" one last time and then wandered up the aisle to harass someone else.
Had I been in another big city, I might have been concerned, but random violent crime is rare in Budapest so I wasn't worried about my safety, I just wasn't sure how to deal with him. After he left me, he stood by a woman in another seat and just stared at her for 5 minutes until she gave up her seat to him. As soon as he sat down, he flopped his head against the window and promptly fell asleep.
Should I have given up my seat? I don't know. I feel bad that he went on to pester that woman, but I didn't feel like being bullied out of my seat. He was skinny and very drunk, I think I could have taken him in a fight.
Posted by neal on June 24, 2005 06:36 PM