A nasty 7" prick.

Apparently, hatpins are alive and well here in San Francisco, and I'm not at all comfortable with the realization.

What's to stop some crazy from snatching this pointy, steel rod and ramming it into somebody's eye. It's all fun and games until, well, you know how that story ends. This *is* public transit we're talking about. I had all that I could do not to grab the little skewer myself and start poking, and not in the nice way, either. (Waiting for MUNI can make anyone a little edgy.)

I don't care how quaint...you *know* that thing would never make it onto an airplane. They won't even let us have nail clippers, which—now that you mention it—is just fine by me. There is very little that's more disgusting than being crammed next to some stranger trimming their talons; bits of toenail landing in your book, your hair, your orange juice. It's bad enough being subjected to it on a short bus or train ride, but between SFO and JFK? No thank you, I'll just have the peanuts.

Anyway, sitting there with my eyes darting from side-to-side watching, waiting for another passenger to lunge for the easy-to-grab knob floating in the back of this lady's head, I decided to move. I wanted to put as much distance as possible between me and a gruesome, painful death (but still make it to my destination).

Given past experience—even with a large, metal pin protruding from my eye, the painful wailing, profuse bleeding—there would likely be little or no reaction from the other passengers on board. That's almost worse than losing the eye to begin with. I know this because I was robbed, punched in the head and thrown to the floor of the J-Church on a full train, at 3pm in the afternoon, broad daylight. The other passengers barely flinched. I wasn't even offered a hand as I climbed back to my feet. It was like being surrounded by a herd of deer who think if they hold really still, the oncoming 18-wheeler won't see them. (Ironically and sadly, it often doesn't.) I know all about the bystander effect. Even so, these people were inches and feet from an assault/robbery and no one moved, let alone react. It was like a bad dream, though I would have preferred to be taking an engish test in my underwear.

I think that MUNI and BART should seriously consider refusing transport to individuals wearing hatpins. Barring that, maybe I'll start wearing them myself. At least then, I'll have a fighting chance.