Why does nobody on the train want to talk to anyone else?

[Temprano26]

I ride the train nearly every day to massage therapy class and I use that time to study or pursue other intellectual activities. People are next to each other but nobody has any reason to talk to anyone else unless it is for directions or business matters. A lot of people on the train look tired and angry.

Even if I am lucky to see an attractive woman, she still carries the same anti-social business mindset. One cute girl was getting off at my stop and I recommended she come into clinic on Saturdays for a massage. I told her where it was and I stepped back to see what she would say. It feels like I have to walk on eggshells for women not to think of me as a train stalker not because of anything I do but because we are engineered to be afraid of strangers. That is why I am not an aggressive flirt with women anymore and I take the relaxed approach maybe to a fault.

In Costa Rica, it was sort of the same thing riding the bus across the country but at least sometimes people were social. One guy even offered me coffee. It was black coffee but it was a nice gesture that I would never see on the train in Dallas. Most people are afraid to have genuine interactions with the people sitting next to them. GENUINE interactions that go beyond trivial business matters. The only genuine interactions I see are with this one train attendant who is a pretty cool guy to his credit and probably because he has a job he earns more respect than others.

[Hero]

Well, it can be a pain when the stranger next to you wants to talk to you.