Yes. Really. However, in the words of one of Kevin Smith's characters in
Clerks:
"This job would be great if it weren't for the fscking customers."
As far as I'm concerned, the Sacramento version of Light Rail rocks on toast. Back in the early 90s, I was without a car for about a year, and Light Rail was my main transportation. I did a lot of walking as well, but my terms on a bus were relatively few and far between.
Yes, I love Light Rail, but there are some things about the people on Sacramento RT and Elk Grove e-Tran that get on my fscking nerves. The bus would be great of it weren't for the the other passengers . . .
To wit:
1. Operators who converse on their cellphones (even with Bluetooth headsets) while driving the bus. OK, folks, this one really hjorked my spazz-button when I first saw it. During the duration of my ride on a bus, my very life and that of every other soul aboard that bus is in the hands of an operator who may be suffering from divided attention due to domestic drama or some other conversational or emotional state. I don't know what state law or sac RT's operating instructions say, but I'm going to find out if professional drivers are allowed to use wireless headsets and drive. In either case, if it is allowed, it's unprofessional at best and fscking dangerous to passengers.
2. Light Rail passengers who engage in extremely LOUD cellphone conversation about matters that should not be publicly shared. Folks, you may not be driving, but some of your cannot-help-but-overhear due to your LOUD voiced conversations are the very definition of
Too Much Fscking Information. I'm all for free speech, and I'm barely shocked by what passes for conversational profanity anymore . . . but if you
must discuss intimate details of your lives in my presence, could you please lower your voice?
3. LOUD cellphone ring tones. Yes, I understand that most of the ring tones sold from AT&T and other wireless providers are from popular tunes, and this art form consists of some very angry and profane speech. Again, I'm pro-First Amendment -- NOBODY has ANY right to tell you you cannot listen to or use part of a song for a ring tone on your cellphone. If you did your fellow passengers the dignity of turning down the volume on the ringer in public (and OFF in certain venues, like theaters, for the love of Eris), I'd be your very best friend.
3. Light Rail passengers who play their music aloud in direct violation of LRT rules. Guys, this one is posted as
verboten on EVERY LRT car and every bus. Of all of my gripes, this one is the least excusable. After all, you cannot control when the phone rings or remember to turn it down, and I can understand it if you're deep into conversation and not practicing consideration for others. Why is there NO FSCKING EXCUSE? EVERY CD / mp3 player comes with
headphones ...please use them, OK? If you do this, for me, and listen to your music with headphones, I'll refrain from blasting you with Tom Smith, Seanan McGuire, or
going nuclear with bagpipe music.5. RT rent a cops with that wannabe cop attitude. There was this Wackenhut guard at the Marconi-Arcade LRT station hassling some poor schmoe because he was standing between the tracks, waiting for the train. The next trains were several minutes out and the passenger was harmless, not drunk or otherwise whacked. Just standing there, looking up the tracks. The rent-a-cop on patrol looked to me for a minute he was about to go tactical on this poor guy. I got my phone out and set the video camera to record if the whack job of a security officer was about to Rodney King the passenger. The passenger finally realized that Dirty Harry meant business and sat down shaking his head. He saw my phone in camera mode and smiled his thanks.
I encountered more than a little of this attitude back when I worked as a security guard. I worked as a guard for a couple of reasons. Security was very easy work. In those days I had lost all confidence in my abilities as a technician and figured I could never work in the field again . . . so I took a job that required almost no thought whatsoever. It also was a job that allowed me to do child care during the day while Ex#1 worked and /or went to school. Among the high school dropouts and fellow losers (as I freely admit I was, back then) was a small number of people who thought a stint as a security guard would look good on a resume when they applied for the police department, other law enforcement agency, or (Goddess forbid!) the military. All I can say is that some of the extreme head cases left as soon as they realized we were in the observe-and-report business and not in the kick-ass-and-take-names industry. Some did manage to perform auto-rectocraniectomies. One colleague did become a Sacramento PD officer, another went into the Army as a military policeman.
At any rate, I had to vent. Don't let this rant keep
you off public transit. I know, transit has its limitations and there are many times when you gotta drive . . . but taking transit
when it is feasible helps reduce your carbon emissions footprint, which makes the Goddess smile. The exercise you get from walking to bus and train stops will make your healthcare provider smile, too.
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Listening to:
Seanan McGuire - Dorothyvia FoxyTunes
