there's never a dull moment on public transit

I slept for over 10 hours last night. It was a bit broken up (i.e. 10 non-contiguous hours of sleep), but clearly my body needed it. I’ve been pretty stressed lately and I’m just feeling overwhelmed in general. Sleep does a body good.

So when I left my building today to get on the bus, I was pleasantly surprised to see that the ART bus was already approaching. Woo hoo! No long wait for the bus today. I popped in my iPod ear buds and happily got on the bus. Eventually, as the bus cleared out, a seat opened up. I looked around to see if any older persons might want that seat and saw a bunch of guys standing. Seeing as that I was the only girl left standing, I took the empty seat without any guilt. First, I didn’t have to wait for the bus. And now, I have a seat. This was starting to look like the perfect morning.

While dancing provocatively to “Gimme More” in my head (yes, I am a Britney Spears’ enabler), I noticed that a very happy man got on the bus. He was smiling from ear to ear for some unknown reason. But seeing as that I was having a happy day too, Happy Man’s smile made me smile. I was having a really good morning for the first time in a long time. I thought to myself, I deserve this. I really do.

My stop was coming up and I stood up to call for the next bus stop. Seeing as that I was already up, I decided to go stand by the door so I could exit quickly. Happy Man was standing at the door as there were no available seats. When I stood next to him, Happy Man began to belt out, “You are so beautiful to me…”

Wha? Eh? Was he actually singing to me? I took a look around the bus, but Happy Man was singing to no one but me. Normally, this kind of extremely public display of ‘affection’ would totally freak me out, seeing as that it was coming from a complete stranger. But not today. As the bus came to a stop, I smiled at Happy Man and said, “Thanks.” Why? Because his song was the icing on the cake of a perfect morning.

And then I got to work and saw that I would be spending half my day in meetings.

Ugh.

At least my morning was perfect.

things that make you go, "huh?"

Last night, I was riding the Orange Line home from the gym and there wasn’t an available seat, so I stood. At Foggy Bottom, a blind woman with one of those cute helper doggies boarded the train. The men who were in the seats typically reserved for people with disabilities (or the elderly) didn’t move. The blind woman held on to the pole with one hand and held on to her dog with the other hand. I glared at one particular person who was seated in the disability seats—a young, able bodied man in a suit who should definitely know better. Had I been seated I would’ve certainly have given up my seat. What’s with these people?

At Rosslyn, an older woman with two young children boarded the train. One of the children was in a stroller. She was Muslim and dressed in full traditional garb. She was probably hot from walking around in so many layers. Regardless, she was a mother who would’ve definitely appreciated a seat. Again, none of the men gave up their seats. Again, I glared at the able bodied man in the suit. Seriously though, what ever happened to our manners, common decency, and general courtesy? I walked off of that train figuratively scratching my head. I simply couldn’t understand why no one gave up their seats for those two women who clearly could’ve used them.

This morning, I got on the (new and improved) ART bus on my way to the Metro. Eventually, as the bus started to unload at this one popular spot, I was able to get a seat. It just so happened to be one of the seats reserved for those with disabilities and the elderly.

At a particular stop, a blind woman stepped on the bus. The bus driver guided her in getting to the little payment acceptor machine. There were no available seats on the train so I knew what I had to do. As I was gathering my things (gym bag, purse, water bottle), a woman yelled angrily from the back of the bus, “Can’t you people see she’s blind?? Someone needs to give up their seat!” Ummm…yeah, lady. That’s what I was doing. I was carrying a lot of stuff with me. I didn’t see any able bodied men getting up. Damn.

I got up and caught the blind woman by the arm. I told her, “There’s a seat available for you. Would you like me to take you there?” She replied, “Oh thank you. Don’t worry about what that lady said. I’m fine.” She walked over to the general vicinity of the lady who yelled and said to her, “I’m just fine standing right here. Thank you for your concern.”

My seat stood empty still as I continued to stand. Some how, it just didn’t seem right to sit. After all, I’m a young-ish person who can easily stand. I knew that someone on that bus needed that seat more than I did (in this case, the blind woman) and I would’ve felt guilty had I sat down again.

The blind woman ended up getting off at the same bus stop as I did. I looked behind me to see her getting off the bus and refusing the help of everyone who offered. Maybe she wanted to show her independence (or practice it). Maybe she wanted to prove to herself that she didn’t need anyone’s help. Regardless (to quote Bobby Brown for the first and only time on this blog), it’s her prerogative.

Still, I’m not quite sure why people don’t readily give up their seats on the Metro to others who are clearly in need of sitting. Why is it that I feel a sense of obligation to do so and others don't?

It's just a damn seat.

metro bus driver impropriety: an update

Two days ago I told you the story about the Metro bus driver who hit on me and gave me his number. The shock and awe he caused with this gesture kept me from being completely honest with the inappropriate bus driver and telling him about Jesse. In my state of surprise, I took his number and hastily walked away. I asked quite a few people for advice on what to do next. After all, I am clearly not interested but he is my bus driver so I have to see him almost every day. A number of you loyal blog peeps weighed in with your advice, as well as a few others that fall under the non-blog-reading category. Here is a brief summary:

Golden Silence opined, “I think you should've been honest with him” and she hoped that maybe the driver should just “do his daggone job!” Here, here.

Beakerz suggested, “Take the compliment and worry about the rest later” and that the return of Flirty Girl would hopefully take the attention off of me.

Sunchaser agreed with Golden Silence and added, “He might or might not believe you, but it's always better to be honest, IMHO.”

A male co-worker of mine weighed in with, “Is he cute? Let me have his number!”

As far as what Jesse thinks…well he’s not happy but he didn’t suggest that I never take the bus again, which would be difficult. He did offer to take the bus with me (which would take him no where near Loudon County where he works but the thought was sweet).

To be honest with you, I know that being truthful about my situation (having a very loving, almost perfect boyfriend that I’ve been happy with for almost 3 years) was the right way to go. But I feared exactly what Beakerz thought might happen if I went the truthful route since I wasn’t up-front to begin with: “You didn't say, "sorry, i have a boyfriend" so now it's kinda like a blow-off line if you say it, even if true.” So when it comes down to it, I feared the bus driver might think that I’m a liar. And I would hate for anyone to think that of me, especially someone who has the power to control my commute to work if angry (heaven forbid he might use the rejection against me).

I caught a lucky break yesterday as I waited for the bus. There was an unusual amount of traffic and the bus was late (the lateness is not unusual). I saw the ART bus approach (the Arlington public transit for those of you who aren’t Arlingtonians) with the Metro bus following a short distance behind. I could either get on the ART bus and avoid the Metro bus driver or I could take the Metro bus and have a little chat with him to set things straight. I chickened out and opted to take the ART bus.

Today, however, was a different story. After stressing out over what should be a relatively simple thing to do, I decided not to give Metro bus driver that much power over me and the relative stability of my life. As I was getting ready for work, I was determined to reject the bus driver TODAY. I wore the Tiffany ring and Tiffany necklace Jesse gave me to inspire me to overcome my anxiety about it all and went out to the bus stop.

The bus was late yet again today (this is exactly what I get for jinxing myself by saying that it had been relatively reliable lately). Eventually, I saw a Metro bus in the distance and I immediately became nervous. However, I instantly recognized the silliness of it all. I’m the one rejecting him. Why should I be nervous? I got on the bus and said my usual good morning to the bus driver as I swiped my SmarTrip card. I took a seat and opened up my book and waited until we got to the Metro station.

At the Metro station (which is the end of the line), I waited for most people to get off of the bus. As I waited, a female rider approached him. She was tall and skinny and looked nothing like me (like Flirty Girl). The bus driver told her, “Hey, girl, what’s up?” The girl said, “So you haven’t called me.” The bus driver said very nonchalantly, “Yeah, I’ve been busy.” Clearly not taking the hint, the girl said, “Ok, well, I’ll be waiting to hear from you then.” I rolled my eyes.

I realized two things right then. One, the bus driver is using his bus route as a dating service. And two, clearly this was an act of God. Because when I heard Call Me Girl’s little convo with the bus driver, the anxiety went away. At this point, rejecting him was no big deal to me.

After giving the bus driver what I assume she thinks is a sexy smile, Call Me Girl left. Then it was my turn. I walked up to the bus driver and said, “Hey, do you have a second?” He got up out of his seat and stood a little too close to me and said “Sure, what’s up?” Resisting the desire to take two steps away from him, I said, “So the other day you really took me by surprise. After all, we’ve never even talked before and then all of a sudden you’re giving me your number. It was very surprising.” He responded with a smug laugh, “Heh, heh.”

I continued slowly so as not to appear nervous, “Well, I should’ve told you this the other day but I was too surprised to tell you at the time that I have a boyfriend. We’ve been together for a long time and we even live together. I’m sorry but I’m not available.” The bus driver looked surprised but he calmly said, “Oh, ok, that’s cool.” And because I would hate for him to drive the bus past me one day, thereby making me late to work, I added, “But we’re cool though, right?” The bus driver chuckled and said, “Yeah, yeah, we’re cool. You have a nice day then and I’ll see you again soon.” I answered, “Yeah, dude, you too.”

Whew. Crisis over.

Hands down, that was the best rejection ever.

other than the fact that they don't believe in teamwork, what about them?

I could go on and on about how long it took me to get to work yesterday (and today for that matter), but I will not. Instead I will entertain you with another story about my exciting adventures on mass transit.

Because the metro bus decided not to show up yesterday, I was forced to take the ART. I've been on the ART twice before due to lack of options (aka, metro bus = no show). Neither of those occasions were pleasant, mostly due to the lack of available air conditioning on the bus and the large number of fellow riders (for those of you familiar with ART, those buses are more like mini shuttles). So, I got on the ART and found a seat.

On our way to the next stop, I hear a woman to my right screaming, "C-I-A!!! F-B-I!!!" She says this repeatedly. I thought I was experiencing another one of my "only in DC" moments. But there's more! The ART unloaded a bit at the next stop and she pushed her way onto the seat behind her against the flow of traffic. She sat next to a girl who looked deathly afraid of the Crazy Woman. Crazy Woman yells, "if next stop yours, tell me! TELL ME, or I not move!!!" Poor girl (intern, I'm sure...she had that vibe about her) decides to move now, even though her stop wasn't coming up. As she moved, Crazy Woman screams, "STUPID, you so fat and stupid."

A few blocks later, Crazy Woman says, "C-I-A!!! F-B-I!!! Newborn baby, 4th of July!" At this point, I'm thinking, Crazy woman is either a poet or conspiracy theorist. She instantly reminds me of Mel Gibson's character in the movie, Conspiracy Theory. Perhaps she's a walking terrorist alert.

Then the woman sitting next to me says, "Esta enferma." She's sick? Really? You don't say. Then she warns me (in Spanish), "If you don't listen to her when she talks to you, she will hit you. I've seen her do it." I knew there was a reason why I don't like riding the ART.

When I took the ART today I must admit that I was a little disappointed to see that the Crazy Woman wasn't on. I was hoping for an entertaining ride to the Metro this morning. Instead I got Random Woman Staring At My Boobs.