The frayed ends of an MTA employee's sanity have been exposed, raw and kinetic, on the Internet for the world to see. Stephen Herbert, an agent at the West 4th Street station, allegedly brushed off a woman in her eighties who was trying to purchase a senior card, and then had to face the cell phone camera of Jonathan Pillot, the customer next in line. "He went insane on her," Pillot told the Post. "It was indefensible."
"Warning: Graphic language," the Post warns before rolling their (unembeddable) clip. But there are no profanities; only two fingers and staid ejaculations from two men who have both realized that the moment has passed. "Just gimme ten dollars please," Pillot says. "Are you gonna do it or not?"
He does not.
You can watch two versions of the video here and here, neither are worth enduring the boorish, bleating Autoplay.
Herbert claims that the old woman cursed at him, but Pillot says she didn't. Both men are adults.
“This is absolutely unacceptable,” MTA spokesman Kevin Ortiz says, adding that the agency is "investigating" the brief, rude flash of humanity.
TWU 100 President John Samuelsen takes the long view: “We get punched, kicked, spat upon and cursed at on a daily basis. Through it all, we shine through with the utmost professionalism. But when a customer curses us out for just doing our job, of course there will be rare instances when we express our frustration.”
If some grainy footage of grumbling is the New Depravity in New York City, it's going to be a long, boring four years.
