I may have captured it all on video, or it may be jumbled because I wasn’t thinking about recording this. But a bus driver on a Q47 bus yesterday accused me of trying to trick the system with some kind of Metrocard trick that would make the system think I’d paid when I had not. I have no idea what he was talking about but in the throes of his diatribe he took the Matrocard from me in a manner that suggested he was going to confiscate it. I had attempted to insert the Metrocard into the card reader but it failed to actually enter or be accepted by the machine. I asked what was happening, not expecting to be accused of trying to cheat the system in a way I did not even understand. The card never penetrated into the slot where the reader mechanism is. I thought the reader slot was jammed or blocked, as happens sometimes on these buses. I don’t remember the entire conversation but after returning my card to me he said “If you’re honest you’ll come back later and try again.” I think his point had been that I had used the card too recently, which did not seem plausible. I got an SBS 52 to St. John Cemetery and had to have spent at the very least 20 minutes in the cemetery itself, with about 6-8 minutes on the SBS bus getting there, and then about 12 minutes waiting for the Q47, where this irritating altercation occurred.
I had nothing to prove to this jackass, really. I could have left the bus in good conscience that I did nothing wrong and this guy just blasted off on some random tangent. But, as I noticed a string of people boarding the bus without paying or even faking payment, I looked it up online and found that you can pay a single fare with a contactless credit card. I have one. Iasked the driver if I could pay with that. He said yes. I paid with the credit card and did not say anything to the driver when I exited at Queens Boulevard. The payment from my Metrocard would have gone against an unlimited 30-day setup. I had to pay again out of my own pocket.
I’m not explaining this very well but to be accused of trying to game the system when I am possibly the most honest MTA passenger ever did not go over well with me. I have never jumped a turnstile or refused to pay a bus fare, as I see happen virtually every time I take a train or bus. ANd of course this bus was no exception. One passenger after another was allowed on without paying a dime. Why were they not chastised and threatened when their deliberate acts were consciously performed?
Besides that I had an interesting day. A long stramble using 4 buses, probably a single day record for me. The SBS 52 to St. John Cemetery, The Q47 from there to Queens Boulevard. The Q60 to Queens Boulevard and 48th Street, where I caught the Q104 that left me at the front door of the pharmacy where I would end up waiting in line for over 45 minutes to get a drug I decided not to use today after all. It’s a steroid to reduce fluid mackup in my left ear but the side effects look like conditions I would not want to experience while here at the workplace. Chances are the side effects would not be anywhere as severe as the drug’s accompanying paperwork made it sound but I do not need to risk temporary incontinence or nausea and vomiting while here at the job. THis means I have to wait another 5 days before I can take the steroids and possibly restore hearing on my left side. I suspect it will heal itself in time, and I honestly have little confidence in the steroids anyway.
I was able to make a nice map for the first time in a long while, but will have to limit that once-reoutine activity now that the GPS tracker app consumes battery like it’s water. I think the phone went from 80% to 20% in about 45 minutes. I carry multiple batteries around so it was a minor issue. Still, nice to see a pretty map of my strambles again:
