wachoo

Last night there was a man behind me on the train who had a sneezing fit (attack, set?) that went on almost five minutes. Small sneezes, one after the other, anywhere from 5 to 30 seconds apart. It was funny the levels of empathy you go through as you listen.

Somebody's sneezing.
There he goes again. Poor guy.
Jeez, he's really having a sneezy day.
What the heck?
Is he doing that on purpose?
Oh, for chrissakes, blow your nose or something.
Now you're just being an asshole.
Is he still at it?
Oh, man. Poor guy.
Wow.

And the funny thing was, you could see everyone else in the car who could hear him going through the same reactions, at almost the same time. As we'd try not to look, but not act like we're looking.