The Dev-L Train

Sometimes, I’m running a wee bit late for work. It’s to be expected: I hit snooze on the alarm one too many times, I couldn’t find shoes, I dropped something made of glass and spent fifteen minutes sweeping up potentially dangerous shards, what have you. But the lateness (five to ten minutes, max) grows infinitely worse on mornings when the dreaded L-train is fucked up once again.

For those of you who don’t live off the L and don’t need to commute to or from Williamsburg or Bushwick each day, I’ll paint a picture. You’re running to the train, reassuring yourself that you’ll only be five or ten minutes late when you see it: the Manhattan-bound side of the platform is clogged—six people deep.

Three trains later (yes, friends, the trains are so packed and there are so many people that you must wait for THREE trains to enter and leave the station before you can even think about cramming yourself aboard), you gently but aggressively force and shoulder your way onto the train with barely enough space to expand your little rib cage to draw breath. You will now be thirty minutes late to work, where you will undoubtedly have to nod your way through yet another passive-aggressive tongue lashing. Hurrah.

What could be worse? Oh, yes. Experiencing the very same thing on the way home.

(Photo from Runs With Scissors' flickr stream.)

Comments

[davin]

I dunno, I've been commuting on the L for a few years now, and only a handful of times have I had to skip a train let alone three!

Why not try a car towards the way back of the train?