My disdain for traffic has been well chronicled in my blog, and I'm so fortunate to have a job that allows me to work from home much of the time. Call me spoiled. Call me white collar. Call me anything you like. I'm not bothered by any verbal suggestion that I'm not tough enough for commuting. I simply do not enjoy it. I'm a huge fan of public transportation, or any transportation for that matter, in which I am not at the wheel. I like to carpool, especially when it's my turn to be the passenger. When my writing career takes off and I am as famous as Tom Clancy and as rich as Bill Cosby, I plan to have a chauffeur that takes me wherever I need to go, whenever I need to go. This actually benefits everybody. I'm so much more of a joy to be around when I haven't just danced rounds and rounds of the bumper-to-bumper shuffle.
Today I took public transportation to work. I repeatedly patted myself on the back for having the presence of mind to make this call. My car is nearly done with the tank of gas that I bought some 9 days ago, and my checking account scoffed at the notion of me buying any more before absolutely necessary. Armed with a pre-paid BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit for those not familiar with the subway system in the Yay Area) ticket and a brand new TransLink card to use for the bus I headed for the station this morning with the anticipation of a smooth, stress-free trip to the office. The perfect storm that they forecasted hit late last night and hadn't yet let up by this morning, so it made my decision that much easier. For some reason, Californians lose all driving skills at the sight of the first raindrop. It's a good thing that it doesn't snow here, because life might just come to a screeching halt.
The ride was smooth and uneventful except for the operator change between the South Hayward and Union City stations. I wished that I had remembered a book to read, but there was a newspaper left behind by another passenger to keep me occupied, so I was good. Upon exiting the station at Union City, I headed to the "add fare" machine to make my $2.30 ticket into the requisite $3.50 for the route I had taken. The turn-stile barked at me and flashed a message saying that my ticket was invalid and that I'd need to see the station agent. Fearing that I'd miss my connecting bus, I hurried over to the agent but had to wait for the gentleman in front of me to finish his repeated questioning about how to get to Daly City on the system. Although the agent explained clearly several times, he kept asking, as if he knew that continuing this routine for precisely the next 3 minutes and 45 seconds would make me miss my bus. Yes, it was a conspiracy, and yes, it was all about me.
Well, I think Eddie the Echo wore the him out with the barrage of questions (correction, barrage of the SAME question), or perhaps it was just time for this particular agent to go on his break, because instead of making me pay the $1.20 and being forced to fill out all of the associated paperwork, he waved me through, and told me to have a nice day.
And I did! Work was somewhat productive even though one of my co-workers was trying to explain something to me while doing their best auctioneer's impression and typing like a caffeine powered court stenographer as I looked over his shoulder at his computer screen. The return bus was a little late and I was wishing that I had been wearing a bright, school bus yellow rain suit (like the Gorton's fisherman), but it finally came.
Before leaving the station this morning, I had purchased a new $20 ticket so that I wouldn't have to do it on the way home. However, it must've been zapped by the magnetic money clip in my pocket because I once again found myself face to face with a station agent discussing an invalid ticket situation. Who says lightning can't strike twice in the same spot? It was a different agent helping me out this time, but it was essentially the same result as he not only gave me a voucher for the value of my one-way ride home, but also wrote me a refund slip so that I could go to one of the main stations and get a new $20 ticket. Maybe there is such thing as a free ride.
No comments:
Post a Comment