Dear Scot,

Today while my friend Katie and I were waiting for the bus (the schedule was not in the pole that said which bus stop it was, which was disappointing - we were waiting for over 10 minutes for the bus and it was very windy and cold - this is all besides the point) and we saw this man get off a bus. That in itself is not very interesting, but the man that we saw you. You were wearing high white socks and a red kilt that had what looked like traditional pins to keep it from flying up in the wind.

As soon as the bus driver (a woman) pulled the bus away, you started cursing, stamping your foot down in anger. Saying that if any woman "ever fucking does that to me again, I'll cut her fucking head off". Now, I'm sure you were only saying this in anger - but honestly now... Violence doesn't solve anything and nor does cursing at someone who cannot hear you. Also, uttering threats of bodily harm is unlawful and therefore you can be charged for them fighting words and if anything ever happened to that woman, you'd be the first suspect since there'd be something in the records. Besides, it isn't very nice to threaten to cut someone's head off.

You stomped angrily away, shaking your head at the women of the world in general and then suddenly you cursed again with a very loud 'fuck' and then said very loudly how you just missed your bus. Now, I'm sure it's very nice that you are well versed in the use of profanity, but there is no need to curse so loudly. (Also, in case you did not notice, a woman was pushing a stroller with a toddler by you when you were busy cursing. Perhaps you're not very caring of people in general, but toddlers can speak and can mimic the adults around them.)

When the bus that my friend and I were waiting for eventually arrived, you got onto the same one and just muttered things to yourself, shaking your head the entire time and when you got off, you surprised me by actually thanking the driver. But then, the driver was a man so I supposed that you felt that you had some sense of kinship with him.

But anyways, a word of advice for the last time you want to utter threats of bodily harm to people who are just doing their job. Don't say it out loud. Especially since there were about a half-dozen witnesses. So happy holidays and I hope you get exactly what you deserve.

Dear Shopaholic,

It's the time for shopping. Under a week to Christmas and people are eager to do their Christmas shopping. I know that malls are generally a little crowded and there seems to be a need to get all shopping done in one go.

But honestly, if you're going to be on the bus, could you not have probably around a dozen large shopping bags with you? Especially when it's during the peak times for students to be on bus and especially not when you have your bags taking up the two seats next to you. Not only is it inconsiderate to be taking up the seats with your shopping, it's also not very environmentally friendly to have so many plastic bags. Ever heard of cloth bags? They'll hold up to more wear and tear than plastic ever will and it's more reuseable.

If you're going to do massive amounts of shopping, try being a little bit considerate to your fellow transit patrons. After all, you don't see anyone else on the bus taking up three whole seats - two of the seats with their shopping!

Cheers and happy holidays.

Dear the Woman on the Train,

I saw you on the train when I boarded after my chemistry exam on Wednesday (December 12th). You were already sitting down, and holding yourself with perfect posture. And honestly, I probably wouldn't have noticed a thing about you if you hadn't taken off your hat, ran a hand through your hair and then put your hat back on. At first, I thought it was a trick of light, I thought that I couldn't possibly see what I thought I was seeing.

But... It is kind of hard to hide two black eyes, bruised cheeks and a bruised chin with a hair and your hair. It is also difficult to hide the fact that there are literally two bruises in the shapes of handprints around your neck. Now, I'm sure that if you are reading this, you'd be explaining them away - but it's difficult to do so when I could see the individual fingers in the bruise.

Your cell phone rang and you pressed a button to talk and addressed the person as 'honey' and then started to quickly apologizing, begging the person on the other end to not be angry at you for being late going home as you had no control over the traffic on the roads. You told him that you were already on the train and you wouldn't be more than fifteen minutes to the station. But it seemed that it didn't matter as you suddenly stopped speaking mid-sentence and put your phone back into your pocket.

The woman next to you was also paying attention and asked you if you needed help, she had motioned to the bruising on your face and neck. You shook your head and said that it happened when you had fallen down the stairs by accident. Now, with that extent of bruising, it would seem as if you had thrown yourself down the stairs once or twice and then had the railing wrap itself around your neck a few times in order to get to get that kind of bruising.

I hope you get some help and that you leave the SOB that's been beating you up. Maybe you think that you can't get help, but you can go to a local hospital or police station - people will help you. All you need to do is walk out the door.

Dear Promising,

On Friday I was on the bus going from the university campus to the train station. Nothing really of interest happened until about four stops away from said train station where this man, who was standing, suddenly got down on one knee in front of the woman that he had been talking to. You pulled out one of those velvet ring boxes and opened it to reveal a ring. An engagement ring.

One might thing that it was the most unromantic place to propose to your girlfriend, but she seemed to not care so much about that as you were just there, on your knee, holdingout the ring and promising forever and happiness and till-death-do-us-part. Which is, all in all, a very cheery thought to have. You asked her to marry you and she had her hands covering her mouth in surprise and shock. Obviously that is one woman who didn't find the ring ahead of time underneath your pillow or she just didn't go around snooping. Which is commendable for her as well.

She looked so happoy as she had no words to express the way she was feeling at that very moment and she just nodded her head rapidly in a way of saying yes. When she finally did say something, she said 'yes!' and got up and hugged you before she held out her shaking hand towards you and you slipped on that gold and diamond engagement ring. Everyone clapped and you gave us all a sheepish kind of look and someone called out where the free booze was and everyone laughed.

Congratulations. When's the date?

Dear Begging Man,

It was snowing quite a bit today, at least it was for the area that I live in. You were walking around the outside of the train station as my friend and myself were making our way towards the entrance. You walked by and were shouting "Could you please give me a fucking penny?"

Now, I am not exactly versed in the proper etiquette of begging money off of people (read: pan handling) but I'm pretty sure that you would be much more successful with asking people for money if you were not shouting at them and if you were also more polite and not swearing at the same time.

For example, here are some things that you could say that would make your pan handling days more successful:

1. Could you please spare me some change?
2. If you could give me a penny, that would be much obliged.
3. It would mean the world to me if you were to spare me some change.

It doesn't make that much of an effort to come up with some more positive, more polite sounding ways of asking people for money. Plus, you also do not come off as incredibly rude and loud and frightening.

I hope you found somewhere warm for the night though, it's pretty cold outside.