M.T.A. Workers Gone Intolerable
I had 2 unusual interactions with the fine members of the Metropolitan Transit Authority yesterday. One of them was super-strange, extremely uncomfortable, very inappropriate, involved vulgar gestures and reportable. The other one was just slightly odd. I’ll be covering the vulgar one in this entry.
Elmhurst Avenue Station, Queens, approximately 7:50 pm
I swipe my unlimited Metrocard in the wrong turnstile (heading towards Manhattan) as opposed to Queens where I needed to be going.
I approach the attendant at the booth…
I explain to him that I swiped the card in the wrong turnstile, he looks incredulous at first and then asks, “are you sure you didn’t swipe it for your friend or girlfriend?”
I tell him “No, I didn’t swipe it for anyone.”
He looks at me and asks, “Are you sure you didn’t swipe it for your boyfriend or girlfriend?”
I look at him and repeat, “No, I’m sure. Promise. I didn’t swipe it for anyone, I just made a mistake, you can check the card.”
He asks me to swipe the card outside his booth, I do it, it says JUST USED and flashes the fact that it is in fact a 30-day Unlimited Card.
He asks me “Are you sure you don’t have a boyfriend?”
I assure him that I do not. He asks “Where are you from?” suspecting that I have the same origins as him. I tell him from India. “Where in India?” “Bombay,” I answer patiently. He proceeds to ask me in Hindi if I have a boyfriend or not. I tell him in Hindi “No.”
Then he begins to explain why he’s being so annoying, “last time I asked a guy if he swiped the card for his girlfriend and he said No, but that he did have a boyfriend. And on the weekends it was double boyfriends. That motherfucker takes it in the ass. (begin hand gestures of 2-3 varieties).”
He curses in Hindi, English, and a combination of hand gestures. Repeats his question and I repeat the same answer I’ve had the entire time. He points to the turnstile I need to take and clears me through.
I’m glad I was coming from a peaceful place and just having meditated had no intention of reporting this guy. I just needed to get through the turnstile. Otherwise, this story could have been quite different and probably not good for me or him.
Yikes! Sounds like there’s a bunghead in the troops at M.T.A. Hiring is tricky business, some people interview well and then on the job display their craziness. Best bet to let M.T.A. Human Resources know about this incident.
I think working in a booth all day for years on end, you are bound to go a little crazy.
But Neil, there’s crazy and there’s wildly inappropriate and oppressive.
I had a similar encounter with one MTA worker in the Bronx a few months ago. I have a transit check good for a year and she was claiming that I just wanted to make a buck or two by swiping the card for other people. They are not the brightest people I have to admit.