Always a joy

I love people that load up on the cologne before they go into work. Especially when it's super sweet smelling, like rotting flowers. Oh, and if they have really bad breath and breathe on you the entire commute in, that's fantastic as well. If you hit your head on the plastic hand straps that hang from the ceiling poles, that makes for a fun commute. Finally, if you read in the paper about how the board of directors for metro don't ride the train or bus with any consistency during the year because it's not convenient for their commute, you must have been sitting with me today as I rode into work and you are ecstatic.

Single tracking

Probably the most aggravating two words a metro rider will ever hear are "single tracking." This means that whatever lines are running in a particular direction are restricted over a set space to one line only. In other words, it blows. Invariably these always show up when you're in a hurry. Unlike on the beltway when people will jump on the shoulder if they're in a hurry, you have no where to go when this happens. Forget any immediate plans that you had because you're going to be sitting. Those two words ruin anyone's day because you automatically add 20-30 minutes onto your commute. That and the odds are that you are stopping and starting the entire single track stretch, so best of luck if you have motion sickness. If it's a cold day, like today, you have the joy of having the heat blasting with all the stopping and starting. You are at the mercy of public transportation. Fantastic times.

Actual conversation from actual rider

Credit to 'stock for this story:

You are blonde and on a bus, when you suddenly fart. Luckily the music is very loud.

So every time you fart, you time it with the music.

When you start making your way to the door as you exit the bus Everybody is throwing dagger looks at you, and you suddenly
realize. ............

You're listening to your IPod !

Chatty Metro Engineer

Here's to you chatty metro engineer. You forced me to jack up my iPod almost all the way so I could listen to your cheerful droning of the rules and regs of Metro. We all know stand right, walk left on the escalator (except for tourists). We all know let everyone exit before you board. We all know use all of the doors. Was it necessary to fill all of the time, except 10-15 seconds of blissful silence, between stops with your reminders? Finally by National Airport, you ran out of gas and were only saying "Doors on the right." Next time, keep it down. I might have a conference call on the ride home.

Clever ad

I saw an ad at Metro Center earlier this week that I found very clever. There are three different versions consisting of a mermaid, big foot, and unicorn all holding a piece of coal. No words on the ad. Just the picture of the mythical being holding the coal. Great ad campaign. Props for running it metro.

Panhandlers

When done right, these people can actually add some to the metro ride. For instance the sax player who claims he was a lawyer and then decided to play for a living. Fun to listen too. The asian dude with either a souped up zither or dulcimer. Fun to listen too. The random mariachi band that shows up around May 5. Fun to listen too. The brothers that bang out some sweat beats with nothing but a bunch of plastic buckets. Really fun to listen too. The acapella group at Metro Center. Fun to listen too.

These people I like. The random dudes who walk around peddling useless crap, like the multicolored, flashing LEDs for your cell phone or as a necklace. Those guys drive me a little crazy.

Running shoes and slacks don't mix

If you've been in the working world for any amount of time, you've noticed the phenomenon of people who wear tennis shoes to work and then change them to dress shoes once at work. An alternative to this is people who wear boots or something similar when it snows because a) they don't want to ruin their shoes and b) the boots have better traction.

Now I'm fine with people changing up gear for inclement weather or if they have some kind of injury. What gets me are the ones, specifically guys, that wear tennis shoes to work normally and then change. I work in the city and have to walk to various work sites, so I understand that making your feet comfortable during the day is important. Walking around the city is pretty uncomfortable if your shoes kill your feet. So if your job requires you to walk around city blocks a bunch, more comfortable shoes are ok.

But I saw a guy today who walked off the metro, wearing a suit, and into his office building that was about 20 feet from the metro stop, and wearing tennis shoes! The first thought in my head was maybe he had some kind of foot or ankle injury. But his walk appeared to be pretty free of stress. No limp. No foot dragging behind him. I can only assume that he figured wearing tennis shoes was an acceptable practice since more and more people seem to do it. Or maybe he was scared of the weather forecast of potential rain today. But really, come on guy. It's 20 feet of covered walk to your office. Unless you're running a marathon before getting on the train, have serious toejam, or an foot allergy to leather, you really have no excuse. Be a professional and man up.