And once in a while, you do interact-- often out of the blue, and briefly, but those conversations can be much more real than anything you'd expect. I'm not ap

And once in a while, you do interact-- often out of the blue, and briefly, but those conversations can be much more real than anything you'd expect. I'm not approachable by any means, but I've had interactions where people told me about losing a significant other, how uncertain they feel having just moved to the city, dealing with illness, etc. My impression is that many areas where the culture is social/polite, brief interactions with strangers are usually pleasantries and small-talk. Perhaps some in this thread had such experience, and are unsure how a place where the people are seen to be so rude to strangers can possibly have positive, enriching, interactions with strangers on a packed subway.