I have to share my most recent “only in New York story” with you. Yesterday, while riding the subway into work, I was listening to my ipod and reading how the economy is melting like a bowl of ice cream when I received a tap on the leg from the man sitting next to me. If I had known where this would go, I would have never removed my earbuds and completely ignored him.

“…requesting an honorable judge for appearance to lawyer.” he said to me, holding a pen and crumpled peice of paper.

For the next 15 minutes I helped him write and revise his letter to the US Department of Immigration Services and The Department of Homeland Security.

“honorable. H-O-N-O-R-A-B-L-E” as he wrote it in the margins.

From what I could half understand, this man had an issue with his immigration papers and was possibly being deported back to Bangladesh.

Once we finished our English lessons, the conversation turned a little too personal. Without sounding rude, I dodged questions like:

“Where do you live?”

“Where you work?”

“You have wife?”

“Where she work?”

“You like club?” (clubs)

“Write your phone number here. We go club.” (I declined, but gave him an old AOL email address”

“Can I come to your work…

Right now.”

“Where your wife work?”

“Can you help me get government grant?”

Thankfully, I arrived at my subway stop, adn I quickly got off the train before he could follow me. What a weird story that would only happen in New York.

Give someone an inch and they’ll take a mile - or ask you and your wife to club.