Dapa Pog's Transit Travails
As told to me by Dapa Pog:
“There’s a possible BART strike a-brewing, and I’m commencing to get antsy, because that’s how I get to work every day. I read somewhere that 280,000 commute between the East Bay and San Francisco by BART every day, and 280,000 commute by driving over the Bay Bridge. BART strike, then = pretty much doubled traffic on the bridge, which is already a hellacious commute option. Madness, madness. The Kenny Rogers-looking guy (looking a little less Kenny Rogers-like since he lost his chin whiskers) sent an email out to the office the other day, forwarding a list of BART strike contingencies that originated in our Oakland office. Among the contingency plans was a carpool option. The Oakland folks had put together a list of potential carpool participants, which was to be posted at the reception desk for anyone to refer to. I wrote back to the KRLG and asked if there were plans afoot for such a list for our office. If not, I volunteered to compile it myself. This was Wednesday. I never did hear back from the KRLG. I got busy and forgot about it.
“On Friday, I bumped into the KRLG in the lunch room and, in that awkward pause while we waited for the machine to fill his cup with lousy coffee, I filled the silence by asking again about the carpool situation again. “Oh,” he said. “Sorry I didn’t get back to you. I don’t take BART.” Well, that’s a good reason to ignore the commuting needs of the other 80 people in the office. He added, “I find these things come together faster if I don’t get involved.” True enough. I felt kind of like I was in a Dilbert strip or something. I said I just wanted to make sure somebody else wasn’t doing it, so I didn’t’ duplicate effort. Nobody else was, so I figured I’d go ahead and send out an email to the office, better late than never.
“It was a slow day, so as soon as I got back to my desk I spent a few minutes drafting an email calling for carpool volunteers. I said I’d compile responses and send it back out by email so all could have access to it from home, if necessary. Then I got busy and forgot about it again. At the end of the day, I realised I’d received exactly zero responses. It being the Friday before a long holiday weekend, though, I got about twenty “Out of Office” auto replies. Maybe some of those people will respond on Tuesday (if we’re able to get to the office). Maybe not. Maybe I really am the only one there who BARTs to work. If so, I’ll be well and truly screwn in the event of a strike.”
“There’s a possible BART strike a-brewing, and I’m commencing to get antsy, because that’s how I get to work every day. I read somewhere that 280,000 commute between the East Bay and San Francisco by BART every day, and 280,000 commute by driving over the Bay Bridge. BART strike, then = pretty much doubled traffic on the bridge, which is already a hellacious commute option. Madness, madness. The Kenny Rogers-looking guy (looking a little less Kenny Rogers-like since he lost his chin whiskers) sent an email out to the office the other day, forwarding a list of BART strike contingencies that originated in our Oakland office. Among the contingency plans was a carpool option. The Oakland folks had put together a list of potential carpool participants, which was to be posted at the reception desk for anyone to refer to. I wrote back to the KRLG and asked if there were plans afoot for such a list for our office. If not, I volunteered to compile it myself. This was Wednesday. I never did hear back from the KRLG. I got busy and forgot about it.
“On Friday, I bumped into the KRLG in the lunch room and, in that awkward pause while we waited for the machine to fill his cup with lousy coffee, I filled the silence by asking again about the carpool situation again. “Oh,” he said. “Sorry I didn’t get back to you. I don’t take BART.” Well, that’s a good reason to ignore the commuting needs of the other 80 people in the office. He added, “I find these things come together faster if I don’t get involved.” True enough. I felt kind of like I was in a Dilbert strip or something. I said I just wanted to make sure somebody else wasn’t doing it, so I didn’t’ duplicate effort. Nobody else was, so I figured I’d go ahead and send out an email to the office, better late than never.
“It was a slow day, so as soon as I got back to my desk I spent a few minutes drafting an email calling for carpool volunteers. I said I’d compile responses and send it back out by email so all could have access to it from home, if necessary. Then I got busy and forgot about it again. At the end of the day, I realised I’d received exactly zero responses. It being the Friday before a long holiday weekend, though, I got about twenty “Out of Office” auto replies. Maybe some of those people will respond on Tuesday (if we’re able to get to the office). Maybe not. Maybe I really am the only one there who BARTs to work. If so, I’ll be well and truly screwn in the event of a strike.”
posted by PapaDogDuvalier | 8:36 PM
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