Signore! Signora!

I was recently on the metro train in Rome. The one in Italy not New York. The Rome metro is awesome. Italy only has a few lines on their metro but the subway cars don’t have doors at either end in between. Just a circle that each car can swivel on. So if the train is going straight you can see unobstructed straight through from one end of the train to the other.

This makes for very easy movement from one subway car to the next. In New York you either have to walk in between the cars, hitched together by a very big bolt and 2-3 bank style stanchion ropes with a lot of slack preventing you from going overboard as long as you put absolutely no weight on them. The other option is to wait until the train stops and run from one car to the other. Probably dozens of people each day do this and for some reason or other don’t make it to the next car. Not only must they wait for the next train, they also must brunt the shame and ridicule of the stationary passengers riding by them saying “what an idiot” with their eyes and mouths.

The Rome metro setup is perfect for panhandlers. I was on the train all of 5 minutes before a very young girl of 11-14 years old came into the car, dropped to her knees and shrieked “Signore! Signora!….” I couldn’t understand but my brain heard…“me-a so-a poor-a”…

She went to each person in the car with her hand out and the biggest, saddest eyes I’ve seen since this woman who used to come into the 24 hour Fitness I worked in without a valid membership and stare at me uncomfortably until I let her in.

I didn’t give the girl money because I don’t like pulling out any money in public. Especially in a place I don’t know well with currency I don’t know well.

No donation notwithstanding, I marveled at the girl’s technique. I’ve seen my fair share of panhandling and this young girl has already honed her craft. I wish I had given her money. Not because I felt bad for her but for the entertainment value. As I got off the train I could vaguely hear her in the next car…”Signore! Signora!….”