Dear Washington D.C. Metro Gates/Transit Card Machinas,
What did I ever do to you?
Every day this week, all I've wanted to do is get on one of your rather efficient trains without hassle at your demonic gates/transit card machines. The first day actually went by better than the rest of the week. Tuesday, the man in charge of the gate close to HRC notified me that he would let me through without an issue if I ever have an issue. He is a sweetheart.
You, dear Metro transit process, are not.
You deny me the freedom to leave the station consistently, and you keep me from catching trains (although the trains come almost three minutes after one another, which is awesome).
I had heard so many good things about you being as efficient as your trains, but now I know that this be not true, especially after this morning.
I was already in a hurry to get to the office because I needed to finish proofreading the epically-paged guide I was given the day before. I thought you would understand that. I thought you would understand that I was in a hurry (especially since that was the first time this week I decided to walk briskly toward ye). I thought wrong. Do you know why I thought wrong?
Because when I put ten dollars on a transit card, got it from the machina and got ready to go through the gate, YOU WOULDN'T WORK.
That's right. You wouldn't work.
Don't deny it. We were both there.
When I tried to bring it up with your guardian (attendant), she copped an attitude before letting me through. While rude and wholly unnecessary on her part, it was no big deal. She must have been having a bad day.
Anyway, I thought things would get better with you when I reached your downtown constituents, but no, no, no. You STILL refused to allow me to get where I needed to, this time, by trapping me WITHIN THE STATION. Oh, how incensed I was.
Luckily for you, the guardian at this particular station has been nice to me from the first day of my confused ride through D.C. upon your efficient Metro and I told him of today’s dilemma. After checking carefully, he made me privy to the fact that the card was de-magnetized.
How could that have happened? I didn’t have it around my iPod or my phone. There had to be some other explanation. There just had to. I soon found out that there was.
It was de-magnetized in the machina-before I even got it out.
Again, I reiterate: What did I ever do to you?
Because of this week-long fiasco, I now have a Smart Card (your non-account required Chicago Card equivalent). My faith is falling, but I feel a bit reassured now that I have this card in my hands. I can only hope I am treated better in the future now that I (unwillingly) upgraded.
Will I be broken once more? Well, tomorrow will soon come and I will find out for sure if this was all for naught. Then (and only then) I will break down in a pitiful mass of despair on the escalator leading down and away from the station.
We can be friends. I swears it.
Sincerely,
Monica L. Watson
~*~
In other news, my big task for the day was to go to a bookstore in the Dupont Circle. After getting lost for an hour and a half and meeting rather odd people who kept looking at my pants***, I finally found a Borders and got the AP Style handbook.
That..was my only real highlight of the day. The weather was really nice, though. I also got to walk all around a historic site…you know, cause I was lost and all.
I also forgot my lunch, so I had to buy food, which ended up totaling 10 dollars.
Ridiculous. I’m already impoverished as it is.
Sadness.
***Seriously, a lot of guys were staring at my pants. 'Twas odd. I've never fancied myself in the league of the highly attractive sort, so I'm still trying to figure out if there was a stain there. So far, I haven't seen any.
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