BLAAAAAART!

I just read a great story by Rooty about a metro performer, the likes of which I don't think has ever graced the rails of our systems.

The best "color" I ever experienced on a Bart train packed with tired commuters on their way home one dreary night was from the train operator himself.

After he made the usual announcement about the current stop and that the doors were about to close - words you don't even hear because you've heard them a thousand times - he said, as we were about to enter the transbay tube, "Sit back, relax, and enjoy a smooth cruise through the groove tube."

From where I was standing I could see many faces look up from their books and newspapers with quizzical expressions as if they were thinking, Did I really just hear what I thought I heard? I'm not sure, but I think that's what we all heard...

I don't know if I ever rode on his train ever again - that was the only time I heard his fabulous late night FM deejay-tastic announcement.

My friend Miriam enjoyed a whole other type of color on Caltrain one night, and I'm sure I don't remember all the details accurately - forgive me Mir. But to summarize, she ended up seated near a guy traveling with a tool/tackle box, sprawled in a double seat by himself.

He'd been drinking from a bottle he was keeping in the tackle box and between pulls from his hooch, would doze off in his double seat.

When the train shifted or something else disturbed his nap, he'd shout with a slur, to no one in particular, "I'M OKAAAY!" or "I'M ALLLRIIIIIGHT!" and then go right back to his nap.

After Miriam shared this story with us one day while working at the shield, it became part of the department lexicon and at any given moment you'd hear an overworked interaction designer shout, to no one in particular, "I'M OKAAY!"