Lesson #18 - Don't yawn for everyone to see

Yawning - appropriate in the comfort of your home. Inappropriate on the subway, even though it may be six in the morning. And its not like it was one of those quiet, discreet ones where you cover mouth, excuse yourself and hope no one notices. No no. The gentleman pulled a full on lion's yawn. If you have ever been to a lion's cage at the zoo, you may know what I am talking about. 

You know, one of those full on, meaningful yawns that expose the entire inner mouth - I mean teeth, tonsils - and seems to last forever. Watching an animal yawn like that can be somewhat endearing, fascinating even, but a grown man...not so much. I'm glad I wasn't sitting across from him, because tonsils and teeth is not something I wanted to be exposed to that early in the morning. Even though I was a few seats away, the sound effects that accompanied the yawn could be heard throughout the entire cart. I just don't get it. What ever happened to covering your mouth and not showing everyone around just how tired you really are. 

First of all, you are not the only that is tired at six in the morning. Everyone is. And second of all, as we all know, yawning is contagious. The combination of the two results in an entire train full of people yawning one after another. By the time I got off that train at South Station, I was definitely ready to go back to sleep, not start my day. And on another quick note, not covering your mouth when you yawn is just plain rude, so do everyone a favor and cover it up. 

So there you have Lesson #18. Simply put, don't yawn big enough for everyone to see, or you might end up with a train full of sleepy passengers.