00:00Who saved your life without even knowing it?
00:01I had been working at this tech company for two years
00:04and taking the exact same train to work every single day.
00:07I had been working at this tech company for two years
00:10and taking the exact same train to work every single day.
00:13I always caught the 745 Express downtown
00:16and sat in the same car in the same seat reading my phone.
00:19This one guy who worked in accounting
00:21would always try to sit next to me and talk about his personal problems.
00:24He was going through a messy divorce
00:25and would spend the entire 30-minute ride
00:27complaining about his ex-wife and the custody battle over his two young kids.
00:31I started avoiding him by switching cars,
00:33but he would follow me around the train
00:34like a lost puppy looking for someone to listen.
00:37It got so bad that I complained to HR about workplace harassment.
00:40They said they couldn't do anything
00:41since it was happening off company property during our commute.
00:44One morning, he cornered me at the coffee cart before we got on the train.
00:47He started crying and begging me to listen to his story
00:49about how his wife was trying to take his kids away and move across the country.
00:53I felt bad for him, but I was already running late
00:55and needed to catch my usual train to make it to an important client meeting.
00:59He kept following me onto the platform
01:00and talking non-stop about court dates and expensive lawyer fees
01:04and how broke he was getting.
01:05I finally snapped and told him I was completely sick
01:07of hearing about his problems every single morning.
01:09I said I was taking a different train from now on
01:11to get some peace and quiet during my commute.
01:13He looked genuinely hurt and started apologizing,
01:16but I didn't care anymore.
01:17I was tired of being his unpaid therapist every day.
01:19I waited for the next train, which was 20 minutes later and much more crowded.
01:23I was furious about being late to work and having to explain to my boss
01:26why I missed our important morning client meeting.
01:28I kept checking my phone and seeing urgent messages from confused co-workers
01:32asking where I was and if everything was okay.
01:34When I finally got to the office building,
01:36everyone was gathered around the break room TV
01:38watching the morning news with shocked expressions.
01:41There had been a massive train derailment on my usual route
01:44just 15 minutes after I would have been on it.
01:46The 745 Express had crashed into a freight train
01:48that was stuck on the tracks due to mechanical problems
01:50the conductor didn't see in time.
01:5212 people died instantly and 30 others were seriously injured
01:55and rushed to local hospitals.
01:57The car I always sat in was completely destroyed
02:00and crushed beyond recognition in the impact.
02:02My boss saw me walk in late and immediately hugged me
02:05thinking I had been on that crash train.
02:06I explained what happened and why I took a different train that morning.
02:09The accounting guy never came to work that day
02:11and we later found out he had been on the crash train in our usual car.
02:14He was one of the 12 people who didn't make it out alive.
02:17I went to his funeral the following week
02:18and met his two kids for the first time.
02:20They told me through tears that their dad
02:22always talked about the nice guy from his company
02:24who listened to his problems on the train every morning.
02:26I realized he thought our daily conversations
02:28meant way more to him than they ever did to me.
02:31His ex-wife thanked me for being kind to him
02:32during such a difficult and stressful time in his life.
02:35I never told her that I had actually been trying to avoid him
02:37and found him annoying.
02:38I still think about him every time I take that train route to work.
02:41His annoying habit of following me around and talking my ear off
02:44literally saved my life by making me angry enough
02:46to change trains that one crucial morning.
02:48I learned that people who seem annoying
02:50might just be lonely and going through the hardest times of their lives.
02:53Now when co-workers want to talk,
02:54I always make time to listen properly.
02:56I think about what his kids said at the funeral every single day.
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