Thursday, November 12, 2009

Public Transportation…Get Your Caboose Off of My Leg

Before Devin and I got married, I used to ride a bus for an hour from the suburbs into downtown Houston, walk to the light rail, and ride it for about 30 minutes through the sketchiest parts of the city. It never helped to know that when someone was released from jail in the mornings, the city gave them a free train ticket. So that is who I spent my mornings with.

Now, on a typical morning (as of late, sometimes I ride my bike to work which is glorious), I wake up, get ready and have breakfast, and I hop in my car to go to work. I literally hop. I have to drive and park in a remote parking lot about a mile from the hospital I work at. Then, I walk from my car to the light rail where every other person who works in the medical center is waiting to get on a miniature train.

I’ve done the public transportation for three years.

Here are the peeves.

1. The rather large men or woman who looks at little ole me, gauges the seat next to me, and somehow in his or her crazy mind decides he or she will fit in that spot thus making my leg the perfect pillow for his or her left cheek.

2. The loud talker. The person who decides that everyone would be missing out if they didn’t hear every word of the conversation they’re having with the person on the phone. This includes repeating what the other person is saying. You know, so we can all be in the know.

3. The guy that talks to the bus driver the entire trip.

4. The people who bring disgusting food onto the bus or light rail which in turn makes my clothes, hair, and nostrils smell like curry and McDonalds hashbrowns for the rest of the day. It’s not allowed and it’s not right.

5. The person who excessively pushes the “open door” button on the light rail as soon as the train stops. The driver will open the door and I’m about 90% sure they put that button there just to make people like you go crazy.

6. The lady who, when we get to the stop that 85% of the people get off at, yells from the back, “EXCUSE ME!!! GETTING OFF!!!” Guess what! So am I, lady. I will throw ‘bows if I must.

7. The person you sit next to, thinking they look decent and like they’re minding their own business, who immediately verbally vomits on you detailing everything they have done that morning and where they are going and why.

8. The preteens with the ipods turned up so loud I can brush my shoulders off from the other side of the train when Jay-Z cues me to do so.

9. The group of ladies who, when the train is packed wall to wall, decide there is obviously room for them, so they just push and push and push until some other guy tells them how ghetto they are and in return, they yell for the entire trip to the parking lot. I should note that a train comes every 6 minutes.

10. The smelly guy. Ack.

I know for a fact that I’m not the only one dealing with these daily train riding stressors.

Gimme your peeves. Oh and tell what city you’re in because I think that’s fun and we can know what kind of weirdos are in each city.

1 comment:

  1. Yes please, OF COURSE I will comment on this! Here are my peeves:

    1) The women from the sketchier part of town, who clearly did drugs (perhaps before riding the bus?) that have a screaming conversations about how they "hate white people" the entire 45 min ride.

    2) The tourist groups who use public transportation at rush hour, do not know escalator etiquette, and bring along their 45 school-aged children, dressed alike. Who are very very loud, early in the morning.

    3) Drunk college students who beg you to buy them sandwiches so that when they get off the bus, their fathers picking them up will not know that they just drank an entire bottle of liquor (that they announced to the entire bus). Then they tell you that they're going to throw up on you, so you must run to the front of the bus.

    4) The women who eat on the bus (where eating and drinking are illegal) and try and hide the food in their purses and take it out and eat it when the driver is not looking. Then the bus gets pulled over 3 times to reprimand the lady, so everyone is then late for work.

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