Sunday, March 1, 2009

You want to go which way???

This past Friday, I was going to lunch with some coworkers, and we took the Red line a few stops. As we're exiting the station, there are two escalators to take you out. One to take you to the turnstile and another to take you above ground. Now anyone who rides metro knows that there are always two escalators going before the turnstile. One that takes you to the train and one that takes you away from the train. I've occasionally seen kids go the wrong way on the escalator just for fun. But Friday I saw a rather elderly guy huffing and puffing his way up the down escalator. I have no idea why he decided he needed to go up the wrong way, but he was clearly struggling to the point that I wasn't sure if I should ask if he needed help. His legs were tiring, but he wasn't going to give up. If you're wondering, he was wearing business attire so this wasn't some work out routine. No he was carrying a bag of some sort and working his way up the wrong escalator. By the time I came across him, he only had a few more steps to go. I watched him for a few seconds deciding what to do, in the end deciding that he clearly wasn't going to take any help either myself or my coworker would offer. I didn't stick around to see whether he made it. Never ceases to amaze me what people will do.