"Bus Uncle" (#149, Topic D)

A cover story in today's Wall Street Journal, complete with a color photo, is on an incident in a Hong Kong bus. It seems that a middle-aged man (later identified as Roger Chan, 51 years old), while riding a bus, was talking on his cellphone, perhaps in a loud voice. This prompted Elvis Ho, a 23-year-old sitting immediately behind, to tap Chan's shoulder, calling him "uncle", and asking him to lower his voice. Not only did Chan not comply, he turned around and berated Ho, intermixed with obscenities. Using such statements as "I've got pressure," and questioning Ho for provoking him, Chan went on and on. Ho, unusually polite in my view (calling someone about a generation older than he is, by itself, evidence of his politeness), merely pleaded "It's over" without any protest. This only encouraged Chan to rage on. Saying "It's not over" repeatedly, Chan continued his tirade for almost six munutes (all caught on tape by a bystander in the same bus, posted on the web, and is viewable at WSJ.com/Online Today). Upon reading, I thought readers' sympathy would be with Mr. Ho, who behaved extremely well, calm and collected -- unless one views his tapping the loud-voiced Chan an uncalled for intrusion. But, as it turned out, it was Chan who caught Hong Kong residents' fancy -- perhaps they can commiserate with Chan's "I've got pressure" outbursts. In any case, Chan became a celebrity; he is now the spokesman for a Hongkong steakhouse chain. Conversely, Ho received nothing but scorn. Such is life. Personally, I can identify with Ho. Indeed, on many occasions while riding bus in Washington, I was tempted to do exactly the same thing as Ho did. I imagine, were I to do the same, I would be less polite -- I would probably address the offender as "young man" or "young lady". Still, I cannot imagine how I would be treated in return. So, it is better to do this entry and stop imagining.