Road Warrior Chronicles

The importance of $17.50

On the #2 Metro bus, heading for downtown Seattle:

Guy gets on the bus, puts his fare in the box.

Driver: Holy cow, man, you just but a twenty dollar bill in there!

Guy: I know. It's all I had. It's okay. (The fare is $2.50, so he's overpaid by $17.50.)

Driver: It's not okay!

Guy: No, really, I don't mind.

Driver gets on the radio and has a long conversation with someone about what he should do. It seems to be a matter of paperwork.

Guy, meanwhile, is standing there uncomfortably, while the rest of us riders (maybe 10 of us) either scowl or smirk at him. Bus is going nowhere, and we're trying to get to work.

Driver finds a form. It's a lost-and-found form. He slowly fills it out, asking the guy for information. The rest of us on the bus learn that the $20-bill guy is named Ed. We also hear his last name, his phone number, and his home address.

Ed can now take some time out of his no-doubt busy day (I mean, the guy would rather lose $17.50 than screw around; he's a busy guy) and take this form to Metro Lost and Found to get his money. Is he going to do it? I think not!

Driver ceremoniously tells Ed that Metro aims to serve.

Ed slinks to a seat at the back of the bus. We are now about 10 minutes behind schedule. This is on a 20-minute ride.

This is how flying should be …

I recently took my first Virgin America flight (I’m typically a Continental junkie), something I’d wanted to do for some time after hearing the buzz.  The rave reviews were right!  This was a fun, pleasant experience that I would recommend to anyone flying to LA or San Francisco (the hubs).  Here are ten reasons you should choose to fly VA over the other lame domestic airlines:

 

1.    The flight attendants aren’t completely miserable, no chips on their shoulder!

2.   You feel like you’re in a nightclub surrounded by A-listers with the white leather seats, purple dimmed lighting, and hip music.  You must wear your Ray Ban aviators at all times.

3.   Only $35 to upgrade to main cabin select = extra legroom, and all you can eat and drink!

4.   You actually want to pay attention to the entertaining safety video.

5.   You can chat/instant message with your friends on the plane who aren’t seated next to you.

6.   Good food!  A refreshing iced cappuccino and high quality dark chocolate with cacao nibs makes an excellent dessert!

7.   You don’t have to worry about bad weather – the only places VA flies into is LA and San Fran.

8.   Wi-fi!!!

9.   Not a family airline – AKA no crying babies.

10.    You can watch Sex and the City for hours, or in my colleague Jon’s case, you can watch Spain defeat Germany live in the World Cup!