Getting to the Office


My morning commute is certainly getting more "interesting" these days and I'm not sure how I feel about that.

 It's been a while since I've actually been in the office; it was the Monday before Thanksgiving when I last did the "fun" commute.  Thanksgiving week was hectic so I was only in that one day.  Then last week I had a cold that prevented me from going in.  (https://bfthsboringblog.blogspot.com/2023/11/not-sharing.html).  Monday I was still a little "off", so today is my first day in two weeks. 

 It's no secret that I like working remotely better, especially as we are in the 4th quarter which is the busiest time of the year.  With no commute to bog me down, I can get more done.  And trust me, there is a LOT to be done.  When I'm home my computer does not get turned off; it goes to sleep.  (It gets more sleep than I do.)  When I have to commute, I'm offline from the evening until I arrive at the office.  I TRY to get in early, but that also means that I shut down early and I don't always come back online when I get home after an 8+ hour day in the day in the office with an approximate hour commute each way. 

 This morning, when it looked like the bus that I usually take was going to be delayed, I quickly switched to an earlier bus.  I couldn't decide as to whether I should break out the winter coat or not.  It's always an issue.  It's cold when I leave and coldish as I wait for the bus when I head home, but on the city light rail and on the bus it's warm.  What's a girl to do?  I decided to forgo the winter parka and instead bulk up with a down vest under another weather resistant jacket.  I was warm enough as I power walked to the bus stop,  but waiting 5 minutes for the bus, my fingers were pretty cold.

 The bus driver floored it all the way down to the city rail station.  I don't think I've ever made such good time.  Of course, he did "skirt" a few yellow/red lights and almost ran over a pedestrian.  (Who was walking in the middle of the street.  PAY ATTENTION.)

 The timing for the light rail was off, as I had to wait 5+ minutes for it to arrive.  Usually it's right there.  The good thing about the city light rail is that there is rarely a wait and it's pretty fast from my stop to Penn Station.  The downside?  It gets crowded. (I am still wearing a mask.  I was doing so even before I got a cold.)

 The strange thing about today's arrival at Penn Station was the presence of security.  I've seen this once before when I got off the train, but I could not hear what they were saying.  So just kind of went with the crowd and got on the escalator up.  Today was the same, only I could tell they were asking for proof of ticket (my ticket is on an app which I can never get to work underground) or badge (I'm assuming ID badge).  My ID badge is in my backpack, and I could have dug around for it, but again I kind of got caught up in the crowd. The question is are they trying to make sure that everyone has paid for their ride  (I have heard plenty of people say that the light rail is free -- it's not, but I've never seen anyone checked) or is there something bigger going on?  Holiday time is crazy and with all that is going on in the world, this makes me a little nervous.

 Then when I got to the office building, security asked me which elevator bank I use.  Turns out, our "lower" bank was being fixed.  So they had to let me in a different "gate" and I had to go down the hall (past the elevators), turn right, through some other doors and ring a bell for another door (which took longer than I expected) and then wait for the service elevator.  There was a security person running the elevator, which ended up taking us DOWN before going up to my floor.  Which turned out well for someone else who works for the company, as we stopped back at the main floor again and she was waiting (looking a bit puzzled, like I was ).

 When I finally arrived at my floor, there was only one other person here; one of the VPs.  Turns out he had a similar elevator adventure, only somehow he got locked in between two different doors before managing to get to the freight elevator!  (Now that would have completely freaked me out.)

 The good news is that my co-worker did not experience the "elevator adventure" which means everything is up and running normally again.  (Whatever normal is.)  And I'm just hoping that my commute home is a little less adventurous.  But we'll see....


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