When looking for a place to sit, it's hard to do worse than the third rail of the West 4th Street subway station. But alcohol inspires people to sit in strange places, and according to the Reddit user who snapped the photo, the man who took a seat on the third rail on Tuesday night appeared to be intoxicated.
Despite the odds stacked against him, the photographer said the man survived: "I notified the transit workers and they stopped all train activity until police came a few minutes later. I snapped this pic from far while police started moving the crowd away. In the end they arrested him and I could finally go home after a delay of almost an hour."
There are several lessons here: 1. Don't sit on the third rail. In fact, don't sit on the first or second rail, either. Avoid The Siren Song of the Rails, no matter how appealing a napping spot they appear. 2. Try not to get too annoyed that your commute was snarled for an hour by someone's poor decision making. Let's face it: This scenario could have turned out infinitely worse for just about everybody.
