During WW II an American soldier had
been on the front lines in Europe for three months, when he was finally given a
week of R&R. He caught a supply boat to a supply base in the south of
England, then caught a train to London. The train was extremely crowded and he
could not find a seat. He was dead on his feet and walked the length of the
train looking for any place to sit down. Finally he found a compartment with
seats facing each other; there was room for two people on each seat. On one side
sat only a proper looking, older British lady, with a small dog sitting in the
empty seat beside her. 'Could I please sit in that seat?' he asked. The lady was
insulted. 'You bloody Americans are so rude', she said, 'can't you see my dog is
sitting there'? He walked through the train once more and still could not find a
seat. He found himself back at the same place. 'Lady I love dogs - have a couple
at home - so I would be glad to hold your dog if I can sit down', he said.
The lady replied, 'You Americans are not only rude you are arrogant'. He
leaned against the wall for a time, but was so tired he finally said, 'Lady,
I've been on the front lines in Europe for three months with not a decent rest
for all that time. Could I please sit there and hold your dog?' The lady
replied, 'You Americans are not only rude and arrogant, you are also obnoxious.'
With that comment, the soldier calmly stepped in, picked up the dog, threw
it out the window, and sat down. The lady was speechless. An older, neatly
dressed Englishman sitting across on the other seat spoke up. 'Young man, I do
not know if all you Americans fit the lady's description of you or not. But I do
know that you Americans do a lot of things wrong. You drive on the wrong side of
the road, you hold your fork with the wrong hand, and now you have just thrown
the wrong bitch out of the window.'
