Case Assignment

Kevin Van Roostjen lives in the Yonge and Eglinton neighbourhood. He takes the subway downtown to work and back each day. In the past five years or so, he's noticed that the trains and stations are often overcrowded, and that this is leading to all sorts of issues.

Today, Kevin is heading out of his condo at 8:10 am, heading for the Eglinton subway station. When he gets there, there is a line-up leading up the stairs towards the doors on Yonge St. The people in the line do not look happy. Kevin remembers that because it's the first of the month, these people are probably waiting to buy metropasses.

"Can you sell the passes any slower?" one woman shouts, towards the front of the line.

The employee in the collector booth hears the woman, but keeps doing his work. Other people in the line have various reactions: most turn around to look at the woman who did the shouting, and some are nodding in agreement, while others, like Kevin, look embarrassed that she would shout her thoughts out loud.

"I mean, it's not like it's rocket science selling passes- just make change and hand them out. Come on!" says the same woman, again, very loudly, as if she wants everyone in the station to hear her thoughts.

The employee in the collector booth decides to reply. He turns on the speaker that allows him to be heard outside the booth and says, "I'm doing my job, thanks. People who want to pay cash on the first of the month will find lines - it's just the way..." but before he can stop, the loud woman in line speaks over him: "It's NOT just the way it is. Other cities have MUCH better systems, and they don't rely on INEFFEFICIENT humans to sell passes!"

Another person in the line, a teenaged boy, chimes in loudly after the woman is done. "Just sell the fucking passes, please! It's not that hard!"

Kevin shakes his head in disbelief and bypasses the line - he bought his pass yesterday. He can hear the southbound train coming into the station, so he picks up his pace.

Unfortunately, Kevin misses the train because the platform is so packed when he gets downstairs that he has no choice but to let the people in front of him get on the train, while he positions himself as near to the front of the platform as possible, waiting for the next train to take him downtown.

People are "jockeying" for position; they all want to make sure they get on the next train. Kevin feels someone pushing into his back, trying to get closer. He doesn't say anything because he doesn't want to cause a scene. Again, the person pushes into him, and again Kevin doesn't say anything because he thinks that saying something, even politely and respectfully, may lead to an escalation of emotions. He just wants to get to work in peace.

The train arrives and Kevin is one of the first ones on. He immediately heads for the opposite side of the train, as he wants to be close to the door when it opens at Yonge-Bloor station.

Standing next to him on the five-station ride to Bloor is an elderly woman with a cane and a shopping bag. She appears to be holding onto the pole with every ounce of her strength. Surprisingly, in the seat next to the door, which is supposed to be reserved for people with special needs, a young woman is sitting, and also taking up the seat next to her with her purse and lunch bag. She is wearing sunglasses and staring straight ahead, oblivious to the fact that she is taking up an extra seat for no good reason, and that there is an elderly person who could use the seat standing right in front of her.

Kevin and the elderly woman exchange a couple of looks, and it's clear in these looks that they both feel the younger woman should offer her seat to the older woman and clear off her bags from the other seat. Interestingly, however, no one says anything. Not Kevin, not the elderly woman, and not anyone else.

Slowly but surely, the train arrives at Bloor.

As the doors open at Bloor, Kevin is thankful for the TTC's recent decision to add traffic flow measures at the station, restoring some courtesy and civility to the country's busiest subway station.

Wooden barriers have been placed at the north end of the platform where the south and northbound Yonge-line trains come in, to ensure that people coming upstairs at this point from east- and west-bound Bloor trains have to walk in a different direction from the people exiting Yonge trains. Otherwise, there is a huge collision of people heading in opposite directions.

What this means, in practice, is that people exiting the southbound Yonge train, and who would like to get downstairs to the Bloor trains, or upstairs to the exit, have to take a detour around the wooden barrier which slows them down by about 10 seconds. Similarly, people coming up from the Bloor trains and who want to get on the Yonge trains have to walk around the barriers for about 15 seconds.

As he's making his way off the train and to the right to go upstairs and exit the station (he works in one of the towers right at Bloor and Yonge), Kevin witnesses an angry-looking man knock back one of the wooden barriers and head straight from the Bloor trains to the Yonge train.

"Fucking stupid TTC," the man mutters loudly to himself as he knocks aside the barrier.

"Excuse me, sir," says a TTC employee standing nearby, "please respect the barrier and walk to your right. You can catch your train farther down the platform."

The man doesn't say anything or even look at the employee who just said this. But as he brushes past Kevin, Kevin decides to finally say something.

"Why don't you try not just thinking about yourself next time, man? You might feel happier."

The man glares angrily at Kevin as he rushes by to get on the train Kevin just exited.

Questions about this case

1. What are the positive and negative examples of social interaction in this case?

2. Which of the negative examples is most serious and why?

3. How can concepts from psychology be applied to think through the problematic social interactions in this case, and to offer solutions?

4. Given what you've learned so far from ethics and psychology, rewrite and shoot the three scenes in this case (Scene 1: The line-up at Eglinton station; Scene 2: The platform at Eglinton and the train ride south to Bloor; Scene 3: On the platform at Bloor station) to show how the people Kevin observes and perhaps Kevin himself could think and behave more professionally/pro-socially. Hand in the script for the "after" scenes only. Post your video to YouTube and send me the link.

5. Research oral communication problems in today's public and workplace situations, then answer these three questions: What can you say in general about the state of oral communication in today's world? How do oral communication skills relate to this case? How do they relate to psychology concepts? Your response should integrate information from at least one library database source, as well as sources from the Internet.