For a long time, Metro stations played a message over the PA system that said something like, “If this is your first time riding with us, here are some things you need to know…Our doors are not like elevator doors — they will not re-open automatically…”

It seemed like they played the message all the time, and as a seasoned rider I found it kind of annoying. But clearly the folks at Metro should bring it back based on what I witnessed on my way home this morning.

I usually try to get on the last car on the train, both because it tends to be the least crowded and it puts me close to the escalator when I reach my destination. The things I see during the ride are completely by chance. The scenery depends on who gets on the same car, which direction I happen to be facing and a bevy of mystery factors.

Today those added up to me being eight feet from a guy who thought the train doors worked like elevator doors, and would open if he just stuck his arm in there. Oh, and the arm he stuck in the car happened to be holding a cup of coffee.

The result? This:

There was a moment of pure amazement on his face as he realized the door wasn’t going to open. He gave his arm (the right one) a slight yank, and it barely budged. His face turned to “oh crap” and he made a very poor decision in a moment of panic. The correct move would have been to use his other hand to help pry the doors open enough to get the coffee hand out — not too difficult, I have seen similar acts done before.

But in his moment of panic, he gave his right hand one big yank. That move left the lid and half the coffee on the inside of the train (as seen on the left), while the cup and the rest of the coffee stayed on the outside of the train (as seen on the right).

The icing on the proverbial cake was the guy standing next to Mr. Coffee, who found the situation just as funny as I did and didn’t hold back in his laughter.

Fortunately for Mr. Now-Coffee-Less, I’m sure the incident woke him up far better than that coffee ever could.