‘Just because you can doesn’t mean you always should’: Parisian prankster attempts to freak out train passengers, but gets hilariously ignored

If you look hard enough, it’s no great task to happen upon one of many liminal spaces that occupy our world today, be it baby showers, IKEA, most of Canada, or the general area surrounding a McDonalds that’s in the middle of the franchise’s Monopoly promotion gimmick.

But nothing compares to the gonzo amalgam of eldritch essences like those of an in-transit subway train; within those distinct-yet-universal, advertisement-smattered walls and questionably-scented seats, whispers containing secrets of cosmic proportions drift in and out with every passing stop.

In other words, if you find yourself sucked dry of relevance and are looking for your next big hit of attention, you are not going to find it on a subway, even if you pull off your best demonic dinosaur impression; the frequenters of this underground network have seen too much to give you the time of day. Such was the lesson learned by TikTok‘s @m.toktok, who now exists in the wake of the most unsuccessful prank that has ever taken place in the country of France.

In these 18 thoroughly insignificant seconds, the man in question lies flat on his stomach in the middle of a packed subway car, letting out a rather sickly hiss as he wriggles his way down the aisle, earning nothing more than a passing glance from the other patrons who seem much more secure with themselves in comparison. The bit ends with the man slowly standing up, arching his back and making claws with his hands, and letting out one, final, non-triumphant screech before reverting back to his main persona of a decision-making novice.

This isn’t an isolated incident either; a quick scroll through the uploader’s user page reveals that the subway is one of the lizard-man’s natural habitats, along with various other characters of varying penchants for public disturbances, each of them receiving about as much inattention and the stunt above.

One might think it obvious to not add too much fuel to this obnoxious fire, but it goes deeper than that; according to a piece put out by Dr. Nicki Lisa Cole on ThoughtCo, ignoring each other in public (which Dr. Cole describes as “civil inattention”) is rooted in giving each other a sense of privacy when out in public, and generally providing each other with peace and the surety that we’re not a threat to the other. Basically, civil inattention is a virtue.

That’s not to say that the ill-equipped prankster necessarily poses a threat, but the irritation-to-fulfillment ratios that are in play here probably look pretty severe, and it’s safe to say that everyone would benefit if that anti-stage fright was channeled into something genuinely creative instead of whatever aimless nonsense is going on at the moment.