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."
