Reader Mail: Where’s An Airsick Bag When You Need It?

barf-bus.jpgYikes! Reader Jason emailed today with a tale of a techinicolor yawn gone horribly wrong on our beloved N Judah train. This reminded me of a time late at night when some guy barfed on the N, and the smell was so horrid, EVERYONE got off the train in the middle of the night at like Stanyan, and I just walked back to 12th Street.
What makes this email interesting is not just the subject matter, but how the author writes it up – it’s very good!

I am a regular subscriber to the N-Judah Chronicles, and a regular passenger as well — I commute from the Ocean Beach turnaround to Civic Center. While my experience today doesn’t rank among the highest of hijinks, I thought I’d share my tale for your entertainment…
Inbound N-Judah, ~11:00 am:
I get on the 2nd car near the middle at the Ocean Beach turnaround. After a few blocks I notice what appears to be a large pile of chunky vomit up in the disabled/senior seating area at the front of the car. I am disgusted. As more people board the train, however, my disgust turns to amusement as I observe the reactions of unsuspecting boarders.
Well-dressed yuppie guy is the first. He goes to sit down in the seat, and sees the pile just as he’s about to step. Acrobatic contortions ensue as he narrowly avoids a messy encounter. A stop or two later, a bearded hipster guy carrying a mostly-full 12-pack of beer sits down next to the pile. When he notices the puke, he makes a nasty wrinkled face and quickly moves across the aisle. An older woman spots it, rolls her eyes and keeps walking towards the rear of the car.
Before the West Portal tunnel, 2 guys get on. Beard spots the pile immediately and makes a beeline for another open seat. Glasses, on the other hand, is oblivious to the mess and plants his distressed Converse All-Star square in the middle of it. Squish! He tries to “clean off” his shoe by dragging the sole along the ground, which only spreads the pile out into a glistening pool. Nasty!!!
The driver comes back at the Church/Duboce stop, looks at the pool, and shakes his head. Shortly thereafter he asks all the passengers to move to the front car. He and some MUNI blue guys spend a couple minutes going in and out of the back car, and back and forth between car to car before finally the train heads into the tunnel and my story ends.
Another glorious day on the N-Judah…
Thanks Greg for your entertaining and informative blog, keep up the good work!

It seems Reader Jason was not the only one who saw this mess…this Tweet was just posted as well! Yikes!
To all on today’s N-sorry your commute was so colorful today!

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3 Responses to Reader Mail: Where’s An Airsick Bag When You Need It?

  1. miche says:

    It was totally nasty!! I have to agree it quickly became very entertaining to watch people getting on to see who noticed it and who didn’t. I totally saw that guy step in it.
    I called 311 to report it, which is why I think we got the boot off the 2nd car before going into the tunnel. Sorry… 😉

  2. Bob Davis says:

    Back in the days of PCC’s and Mack buses, I visited Central Control, which was then at the former Geary Carhouse. At one point a radio call came in reporting a “dirty coach”. The dispatcher said, “That usually means some drunk threw up on the bus”. Just one more thing that can make public transit a “hard sell”.

  3. marcos says:

    And I thought that folks from a certain culture where personal space was conceived to not really exist clipping their (or their partners’) fingernails in the seat behind me in the N Judah was gross.
    Snip, snip, snip….snip, snip.

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