Yesterday, on the subway, a young woman in her twenties sat down and opened the free metro paper to read. As so often happens, a middle section slid out of her hands and onto the floor, where a man in his forties or so, standing with his back to the woman, promptly and unknowingly stepped on the edge of it.

The young woman reached down and tried to tug the newspaper section from under his heel. It was, however, firmly anchored by the man's weight. She tried again, tugging a little harder, clearly hoping that the man would notice the tugging sensation and notice the unfortunate placement of his foot.

He did not.

What did the young woman do?

(a) Tapped the man on the shoulder and asked him to move, whereupon he obliged with an apologetic smile.
(b) Tapped the man on the shoulder and asked him to move, whereupon he grudgingly lifted his foot.
(c) Poked the man in the calf, causing him to look back, scowl, and lift his foot.
(d) Did nothing.

And the answer would be ... (d)! The young woman (no, she is not me) sat back in her seat without attempting to inform the man of the newspaper he was stepping on. When the man moved on his own about 30 seconds later, she then leaned over to pick the paper off the floor and, presumably, read it.

Interesting, no?