I tend to do a lot of thinking on the subway. There's always a lot of inspiration, I guess.
First, this guy gets on with a bag, some papers and folders, and a half-finished Diet Coke with Lime. He's trying to go through his folder but realizes it's difficult to do so while one of his hands is occupied holding the bottle. He free his hand up, he decides to put the bottle on the floor of the subway - without the cap on.
My spider-sense quickly kicked in, and I watched the bottle intently, waiting for the inevitable spill. We narrowly avoided disaster at the first stop, when a middle-aged gentleman with pointy cowboy boots on came just inches away from the bottle. Phew. One stop later, we made it to 42nd St (Times Square), and I was sure we would not be as lucky (there are typically a lot of people who get on or off at this station for various reasons). Somehow, as we pulled away from the station, the bottle was still standing. It even stood strong through some rough track between 28th St and 23rd St.
The bottle remained upright until the man kicked it over with his own foot as he was preparing to leave the train down at 14th St.
It was obvious that the guy was somehow involved in education. It looked like his folder said something to that effect on it, and he was reading a newspaper (CSA News) that was filled with headlines about classroom policy and student attendance and so on. I figured CSA stood for something like City School Administrators, Council of School Administrators, or City School Administration. Turns out, it's the Council of Supervisors and Administrators, a labor union for NYC Board of Education administrators. Besides, he had a sharpened #2 pencil on him.
Here is a man that lacks the common sense not to put an open bottle on the floor of a NYC subway (yeah, yeah, double negative), and yet we entrust him to lead the our children and the NYC school system in some capacity? No wonder our third-graders can't read.
Sigh.
Of course, I live down in Battery Park City, in what is one of the southern-most apartment buildings in Manhattan, and my ride was only half over. I get off at Rector St, the second to last stop on the 1/9 line. The last stop is South Ferry - where one would get out for Battery Park, the Staten Island Ferry, and the ferry to the Ms. Liberty. Because it's the last stop, it loops around to facilitate the trains heading back uptown. The platform is only a partial arc on the loop though, so, as the conductors make very clear, "if you want to get out at South Ferry, you must be in one of the first five cars."
Fine.
The only problem with that is that the cars are not numbered. Now remember, by the nature of where it goes, a lot of people who don't ride this train often or aren't even from the city (it's a big tourist destination). I ride this train every day, and while I can generally tell you what section I'm in, I probably couldn't pinpoint a car.
I usually ride towards the end of the train, because it's a bit more convenient for me both in getting on and getting off. Every time I get off the train, I see a ton of people still sitting in the train - who, after missing their stop at South Ferry, will end up back at Rector St on the uptown platform, trying to figure out where the hell they are.
As I said, I know enough to be able to get out there, but only because I take the train every day.
This reminded me of a good friend of mine from college. He was one of the most brilliant people I have ever met - and believe me, I've met my share of smart people between school and work and people online, etc. Mike is simply brilliant. He wasn't always very motivated though. He was from Johnstown, PA, about 45 miles east of Pittsburgh, and always said he was just going to go home at work with his father (a contractor who builds custom homes). I couldn't have been happier when he said he wanted to look for something technical after graduation. He had a particular interest in lower-level stuff and decided to pursue a career in embedded systems.
He couldn't find a job because every 'entry-level' position required 3-7 years of experience. Not 3-7 years of experience as a technologist, but 3-7 years of experience doing embedded systems programming. Wait, let me get this straight - if you want a job in embedded systems programming, you have to have 3-7 of experience. You can only get that experience by getting a job which we already established you can't get. No job, no experience, but no experience, no job.
Ahh, the ultimate impenetrable job market. Seems almost as hard as getting off at South Ferry.