Live in Virginia, Work in DC? I Must Be Stupid
by Lewis DerkinsMay 14th, 2008, 11:05 am
One of our loyal readers, JB, wrote us this insightful comment:
This blog is written by idiots. Live in VA, work in DC? That sucks huh? NOT! I too live in VA and work in DC. My commute takes 20-25 min. max, any time. That’s because as you might have guessed I live in Arlington. That’s because I don’t give a crap about having a huge house and because I’m not scarred to live in a city. I laugh at you sitting in traffic 2 hours every day. Stupid!
This highlights the problem that we’re trying to address with this site – general public apathy which allows our governments to flush away our tax dollars while our infrastructure corrodes around us.
In case JB didn’t notice, none of the contributors to this site claim to live outside the beltway. In fact, two of us live in Arlington on the Orange Line corridor – and not in huge houses, one lives in the District – so apparently he’s less scared than JB, and one lives in New York City proper – who must be the ultimate bad ass since NYC is 100 times scarier than DC.
We’re not griping because we made choices that force us to endure a grueling two hour commute each way. In fact, I have a shorter commute than JB most days.
That said, my commute is still unacceptable for several reasons:
- Metro facilities and customer service are terrible – read some of my previous posts and ask yourself if you honestly feel it is appropriate to treat people the way I saw the senior citizens get stranded on the Rosslyn escalator. (That picture is the escalator in question by the way.)
- Metro schedules are idiotic – I should never have to wait upwards of 20 minutes for a train.
- Metro systems are broken – a train should never show up labeled Yellow on an Orange Line track – it has happened, or labeled Blue when it is really Orange – has also happened. The signs, escalators, elevators, turnstiles, and ticket machines are constantly broken and never fixed. But Metro continues to increase your fares while offering you no higher level of service.
- Metro is slow and unreliable – I should never be able to walk between two stops faster than Metro can take me, but I assure you that I can, and often do.
In my opinion, anyone who would put up with all of this without taking a second to ask why you’re paying tax dollars and increased fares for it all is truly stupid.
Some days I take a bike to work, and I take my life into my hands whenever I do because the roads are poorly designed and maintained, and they’re jammed with people who aren’t paying attention to anything. Again, unacceptable.
I find it amusing that JB lambastes us as “stupid” as he writes a comment about Virginia under a post about Chicago’s airport. I’m amazed JB can actually write, since he can’t seem to read.
But keep laughing JB. Laugh it up at all those people sitting in traffic for two hours a day – their misery affects you too. The poor infrastructure in this area is contributing to any increase in the price of consumer goods - that you absorb. It’s also going to drive jobs away eventually which will hurt the local economy – including your job. It will eventually cause people to move back into the city – cities develop in cycles – to avoid the commute, and that will price you out of the housing market. It also allows our government to increase taxes to “address a problem” that they have allowed to get out of hand through inattention and poor planning – that takes money out of your pocket. It also grinds a major transportation artery to a crawl, which affects consumers all along the Atlantic seaboard in ways ranging from business costs and efficiency to emergency preparedness. It also wastes craploads of gas, which keeps us dependent on foreign oil and mires us in foreign policy nightmares overseas – which interrupts the important things in your life, like American Idol.
But most importantly, it also makes the people that you have to deal with on a daily basis miserable – so keep laughing, you’re the one who bears the brunt when someone treats you like crap because they’re miserable after sitting in traffic.
By the way, the picture is what happens when the Metro slams on the brakes too hard while JB is picking his nose.
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Posted in Highways, Mass Transit, Subways, Tax Increases, Traffic Congestion, Uncategorized Rage |
Very funny retort towards JB. And that picture certainly looks painful.
Lewis,
Only one complaint about your posting: Too damn long! Who has time to read all this poo at work?
Myself, Hiss Kaag that is, will not allow any of my staff to experience joy, happiness or the general feeling that their work matters.
I like making them change charts for no g-d damn reason, and spend my whole day managing up and kicking down.
That’s the Hiss Kaag philosophy my friends. Use it too and you’ll end up a lonely shrivled up sad excuse for a man.
G-d Bless.
SEE YOU AT IHOP.
Mr. Kaag
Mr. Kaag, it sounds like you run a totalitarian regime. As a government, this is very wasteful, but does allow for the random “dismissal” of inefficient bureaucrats who fail to modernize the infrastructure. In your IHOP, I could not care less how you run it, just keep my pancakes hot.