I absent-mindedly entered on the uptown track instead of the downtown side of the subway station. I left the station and crossed over to the other side of the tracks but, of course, my metro card had been swiped and was now in a dreaded “already been used” state.
I approached the MTA booth and found a woman sitting there, apparently doing paper work. I said, “excuse me” but she did not acknowledge me in any capacity. I thought to myself, ok, maybe she is the middle of something I will give her a minute or two. Minutes passed and now at least one train went by and she did not even give me a “hold on a sec” acknowledgement.
Finally, I persisted, with “Excuse me, Excuse me, EXCUSE ME.” Then she looked up, told me to “hang on” accompanied with a real withering look. She then moved over to a different chair and asked me to swipe my card. I swiped my card, seriously, twenty times. Sometimes it said, “Swipe again,” at other times it said ” just used.” She insisted that nothing was registering on her end at that I needed to swipe it straight. Of course I was frustrated and I said, the screen read, “It was just used.” And she got haughty and said I “wasn’t listening to her.”
I kept swiping but eventually just walked away. I didn’t look at her. I didn’t acknowledge her behavior. I just left the booth and bought a new single ride pass at the computerized booth.
Go ahead MTA, replace her with a machine.
