Observation on the Street

I live on a fairly busy street that is made to look busier by the narrow sidewalks, the businesses that overflow onto the sidewalks and the presence of a large hospital. A few weeks ago, as I was returning from a lesson and walking down this street, I spotted one elderly woman pushing an even older woman in an ancient wheelchair. They were on the actual street wedged between the sidewalk and a taxi. The opened rear passenger side door of the taxi suggested to me that they were trying to get into it; a  task that seemed difficult given their combined physical limitations and the traffic on the road.  While they were working up the ability to get into the cab, this middle aged man in a trench coast and a briefcase, scooted by the opened rear door, closed it and proceeded to get into the front seat of the cab, which then left.

I could not believe that I was a witness to such unparralled rudeness and unwillingness to help the other ladies.  The cabbie could not wait for the old ladies, and the man took a cab from two women who had probably taken at least ten minutes to position themselves to catch this cab. No one else intervened either.  Well my shock and dismay aside, the two ladies worked up a head of steam and yelled "Bissen*" to the departing cab and its fare and I think that there was some hand gestures as well.

Fortunately, it is one of the very few Shanghainese words that I know (I am NOT disclosing my source)- so I know exactly their sentiment. And inside my head, I echoed it too- ok and maybe a few other choice words too.

(Not suitable for children: it means Asshole!)