‘The guards were very demure’: Woman’s attempt to hop the gates on the subway without being seen goes awfully, hilariously wrong

Sometimes, the fees, wait times, and hustle associated with public transportation are simply too much, leading us to indulge our shoulder demon’s urging and try to take a shortcut.

Cutting corners doesn’t always work out as intended, unfortunately, and that’s a lesson TikToker LaRyn (@biglashenergy) learned the hard way. She was just trying to be slick and slip past the subway turnstile without anyone noticing, but her utter failure of an escape attempt left LaRyn in stitches — and in full view of the authorities.

Perhaps she should have thought twice about attempting a turnstile hop in heels. Or perhaps it was the tiny black dress. Whatever the culprit, LaRyn fails in her attempted dodging of fees, and fails miserably, after getting caught on the turnstile not once, not even twice, but three separate times.

What’s more, by the time LaRyn has made her embarrassing way through three successive failures, a pair of cops have easily caught up to her. They watch her failure of a turnstile hop from mere feet away, utterly unbothered, and don’t make a move to stop her. Even her bold query, asking the police “what are you gonna do,” didn’t rile the officers up — they just stood alongside to witness her embarrassment first-hand.

The award-winning level of unbothered displayed by the officers quickly became the focal point of the video for viewers, who applauded both for showing up seemingly for no other purpose than to laugh at LaRyn. “They were embarrassed for u,” one commenter accurately pointed out, as another added that the cops won’t do a thing to stop a turnstile hopper, but the “turnstile, however, will stop you” all on its own.

The nonchalance of LaRyn’s apathetic officers is increasingly common where things like subway fees and turnstile hoppers are concerned, largely due to the decreasing penalties associated with actions just like LaRyn’s. Once upon a time, her efforts could have landed the TikToker with jail time — a full year, no less — along with a fine, but the gradual decriminalization of turnstile hopping has reduced that fear immensely.

These days, unless you’re unfortunate enough to catch a cop on a bad day in Brooklyn, the Bronx, Queens, or Staten Island, you’re unlikely to see even a fee accompany your mild attempt at anarchy. A $100 fee is the typical penalty for hopping a turnstile, and — in Manhattan, at least — the act is no longer considered “theft of services,” and is instead largely considered a nuisance these days. If cops catch you, like they did LaRyn, the most likely consequence of your actions is a heaping dose of embarrassment and a slow, guilty walk back to the ticket kiosk. It’s up to you if the rush — and dodging the $3 ticket — is worth it in the end.