alexis in the city

so, like i mentioned, i’ve been doing some freelance work.  one place i moonlight is waaaaay out in the boonies of the city - it takes me like an hour to get there. i’ll go out there for a couple hours after i’ve already put in 8 hours at my day job - so needless to say when i’m coming home, it’s pretty late.  fortunately there are two busses (i thought) that run as close as door-to-door as i’m going to get at 9 or 10 pm.  last week i found out there is really only *one* bus that does said door-to-door running - and it’s not the one i initially got on.  i took one bus out to this place, and i went ahead and took the same bus back when i was finished.  only problem is … it stops going as far as i need it to, once it gets past, like 7pm.  after 7, it stops in Seedy McSketchy-ville.

when we got to this point, and the bus driver kicked us all off, i briefly thought of just staying on the bus, riding it back to a safer area, getting off there and catching another bus or a cab.  then i realized, most of the area that bus drives through are sketchy. i’d have to ride it halfway back to where i’d been freelancing before i felt safe getting off in a neighborhood i didn’t know at 10 pm.

i was at least familiar with the area where i had to get off. ironic thing is, it’s actually closer, blocks-wise, to my apartment than the stop i was going to get off at.  but walking home west to east is sketchier than walking home east to west.   that’s just how it is.  one block you’re in a ritzy shopping district, the next, you’re being ushered into a porno store by a homeless crack addict.  not kidding.

so there i was - in ghetto-town, 10 pm, on the corner of meth junkie and crack whore, tall, white, blonde and alone. i wasn’t ABOUT  to walk the (mere) 6 blocks back to my building through that mess. so it took me about .25 seconds to decide to take a cab. well, since meth junkies and crack addicts aren’t known for their common use of cabs, there’s not a WHOLE lot going thru those parts.  thank GOD there was a tiny little donut shop on the corner that’s open 24 hours. i went in there to be partially safe, and call a cab.  while i was on hold with the cab company, i saw a couple taxis go by, so i decided to walk out to the bus stop and try to hail a cab from there.

after a couple seconds i got one to pull over, but he wouldn’t let me in. he asked me where i was going, and when i told him, he refused to take me.  the problem was you can’t turn toward the direction of my apartment from the street he was on - he would have had to circle the block, instead of making a direct turn. he was like, ” go walk down to X street, and catch one there.” the whole POINT of getting a cab was to avoid certain death by walking ANYWHERE.  i told him i didn’t care, he could circle the block, and tried to open the door. then, i SHIT YOU NOT, he DROVE THE FUCK AWAY!  i’m SO not even kidding. i’m a BLONDE, well dressed girl in the middle of the ghetto!  i would’ve paid you double just to let me get in the fucking cab!! but aside from that, it should have been obvious i was in distress!

so anyway, a minute later i hailed another cab, who took me around the block and didn’t bitch at all.  i looked up the website of the first cab company so i could leave feedback, but no such luck.  guess i’ll have to call my complaint in - those bitches are gonna get an earful.

i’ll just come out and say it: i tend to be judgemental. i know that i try to hold people up to *my* standards, without taking into account their lives and what they may have been through. I expect them to want to look, act, and dress similarly to the way i would want to look, act, and dress. oh, and i would also brand myself as “pretty tolerant.” but isn’t that kind of the way of things today? “tolerance” is such a buzz-word, but we really only mean that as long as people fit inside *our* boundaries, we can tolerate them. so this discrepancy is something i’m constantly slapping myself on the wrist for. i *want* to be truly tolerant. i *want* to understand people instead of judging them.

i say all this to say that i’m especially at my judging finest when i ride the bus. a whooooole bunch of people ride public transit in this city. but when i see a lot of them, the spoiled brat inside me wants to look down on them, to judge them, and be appalled by them. that’s kind of the premise of the whole “MUNI Chronicles” thing - telling the stories about ridiculous people (and sometimes events) on public transit.

so this one’s a little bit different. it actually happened to me months ago, but i have been meaning to write about it. i was on one of the more ghetto busses (there’s the spoiled brat i was talking about), going home, when a blind man got on with his seeing eye dog. he was fairly young, and the man across from him recognized him and began talking to him. apparently they’d been in a job training class together at the community college. they were talking about where they worked now (both in relatively entry-level positions - a clerk or assistant or something along those lines) and what they’d been up to since the class.

the blind guy started to tell the other guy about the trouble he was having getting government assistance for his rent and medication - all the hoops he’d had to jump through with the offices, HMO’s, etc. but he wasn’t bitching or complaining. normally when i hear people talk about how the government’s not taking good enough care of them, i immediately think - make something of yourself, stop living off my dime, and be accountable for yourself like the rest of us. but this guy’s story actually brought tears to my eyes. from the few minutes i spent listening to him, he seemed like he was doing everything right. and here was somebody the government *should* be helping, and instead it was just making life that much more difficult for him.

that day on the bus, i didn’t come away angry with the traffic, or frustrated with other people. i came away with the feeling that i have so much more than i will ever truly be able to appreciate.

i ride public transportation to work. over-all i’m greatful for it. it enables me to get around the city relatively easily and not have a car. boiled down, i guess it saves me about $500 bucks a month. but SOOOOOOMETIMES …

ok - the above title is a little misleading, but not far from the truth. MUNI recently changed around some of its “light rail” lines (which i put in quotes because in my mind light rail denotes something fast, and well, let’s be honest here) - mainly affecting the one i use to go to work. the first week it was AWEFUL. one morning, i waited at a station for my train for 35 minutes. that’s WAIT time - not even including travel! i took a lot of cabs that week. so, it’s been getting better from there, but not a lot.

this morning, i waited for bus A for about 10-15 minutes. rode on that for about 10 minutes (apx 6 blocks - i know i could walk that far in that time - more on that in a sec). got to the station to wait for bus B (light rail) and was there for about 15 minutes. by the time the train came, there were so many people waiting for it, it was more crowded than normal. and when that happens, it seems like the bus takes even LONGER to get to your destination. i was on that for about 10-15 minutes. so it took me about 45 minutes to an hour to get to work today.

let me put it in perspective. i commute within a seven-square mile city. i work about one mile from my apartment. it took me almost at hour to go a little over a mile. i used to commute out of the city, and that’s how long it took me to go about 50 miles! granted, you can’t compare traffic, driving, pollution, boredom etc - i’d take public transportation over than any day. but still.

now … i know i could walk. on a good day it might take me a few minutes longer to walk, but on average i’d say it’d take me about the same amount of time or less. the problem is, it’s such a pain - even more so than riding the bus. i already usually have two bags. if i walked - especially during the summer - i’d at least need a change of shoes, if not a change of clothes. plus, it’s cold a lot in the mornings, rains a lot, is foggy a lot. i don’t want to walk in that, or worse - have to ride a bike in that!! i’m SOOOO not that kind of person. i want to get to work looking put together and professional, not sweaty and wearing my gym clothes.

i can be a bitchy, opinionated person, but the other thing is, i’m pretty passive aggressive. if someone’s annoying me, i might be rude to them (like purposely bump into them if they’re checking their cell phone while walking and not paying attention …), but i rarely confront random people because of their actions. the other day i decided to change that.

I was on the bus (where most annoying injustices occur), and this lady was sitting up in front, a few seats away from me. the front seats are supposed to be reserved for “seniors, and persons with disabilities,” and she was probably a senior, so whatever. the thing was, she had a heap of bags taking up the seat next to her. on an uncrowded bus, i do this all the time, so i don’t have to put my stuff on the floor, but this particular bus was becoming more and more crowded, and she didn’t move them. then, an older man got on, looking like he could hardly pull himself up the bus steps - and that hanging on to the handrail instead of sitting down might be the end of him. the lady didn’t volunteer to move her stuff, so he kindly asked her to do so. she got all huffy and proceeded to take FOR-EV-ER to pull her precious packages off the seat. when she finally had a few down, and was in the process of removing the last, the man sat gingerly on the edge of the seat - not trying at all to sit all the way back against her bags, but just enough, i’m guessing, to be able to give his body a rest. the woman pushed against his back, and flipped out - accusing him of wanting to sqash her stuff, and abruptly said, “EXCUSE ME, i’m not DONE.”

so i spoke up. i said, all he wants to do is just sit down. she got even more defensive and said, i was just trying to move my stuff. i know my rights, i am ALLOWED to have stuff on that seat. i replied and said, he’s supposed to be able to sit there and it’s just not fair that you would take a seat for yourself and a seat for your bags (or something to that effect). then she launched into this speech about how she was a lawyer, and she “wished she had her business cards on her,” and she knew she HAD THE RIGHT.” now, i don’t know how someone could be so mean and bitchy that they would actually get pissed about having to move their bags so an OLD MAN could sit down (it’s not like she even had to give up her seat)! but the cool thing was, everyone around me started to back me up. i bet six or eight people chimed in about how they couldn’t believe what she was doing, and how it wasn’t right that she should get TWO seats.

in the scheme of the universe, it was kind of a small victory. but, it was such a great feeling to know that i had SAID what all these people were thinking - and i think i’ll start doing it more often. awful people like that, who have gone through their lives doing rotten things, deserve to know that in general, society doesn’t agree with their behavior - and sometimes all it takes is one voice.

oh - and as i got up to get off at my stop, the crazy, angry lady - who was probably the same age as my grandmother - kicked me a few times in the shins as i made my way out of the bus. i just let it go, it was so petty. maybe she IS a lawyer …