It’s every commuter’s worst nightmare, short of a bomb or some other catastrophic event. Just as the conductor approaches, you realize you’ve forgotten your monthly pass.
Happened just this morn on the Stamford train, says our Nutmeg State correspondent Connectic Energy. The conductor was about two rows away when a man–described as a typical commuter, 45, well dressed, bopping to iPod, flicking on Blackberry–started rifling through his pockets and patting himself up and down like a third base coach on speed.
Alas, the ticketless wonder played it all wrong.
“I forgot my wallet,” he told the conductor. “You’re not going to hassle me, are you?”
If I’m that conductor, I probably say something about how people on the train are expected to have a ticket, ya know, and those that don’t are in for a spot of trouble. If that constitutes a “hassle,” well, it ain’t my fault.
The conductor eyes the man up good and slow and long, top to bottom, a good five seconds’ worth of deciding whether the man deserved a break.
Turns out he did, in fact, be deemed break-worthy.
“When you go to New York,” the conductor said in a vaguely John Wayne-ish drawl, “it’s good to have your wallet with you.”
The conductor continued with his business, and the ticketless man slumped to his seat. He’d won the war, yes, but lost a bloody battle.