I was taking Metro to a client visit, and when I got down to the Farragut North platform, just as I was choosing a waiting spot on the platform that was just the right personal space-protecting distance from my fellow passengers, I heard a blood-curdling scream coming from the far end of the platform?
WTF? Did someone fall off the platform? Everyone turned to look. Including the Metro cop standing near there, who didn’t do much of anything else. So much for serving and protecting. Never did figure what that was about.
But it did remind me of your Public Service Announcement for today. Do you know what to do if you would happen to fall off a platform? Being sort of short and therefore the person that other people tend to trip over, I wonder about this when I’m on a crowded platform full of jostling people who think they’re more important than I am.
Under every platform is a small shelter area you can hide in so that an oncoming train won’t hit you. It runs the length of the platform, and is wide enough to accommodate a fireman in full protective gear. So if you fall off the platform and a train is about to arrive, you can press yourself against the platform itself, under this overhang, and hope you don’t suddenly develop claustrophobia.
When I got off the train at Judiciary Square, there was a street team promotion. Have I mentioned how much I love Metro station street team promotions? There were the Danactive Smoothie people, the M&M candy bar giveaways, but this one was samples of Degree antiperspirant. This would be sort of boring for me, as I’m a Secret Shower Fresh Scent girl myself, except… Well, have you seen the commercials for the action figures? The Mama’s Boy, the Suck Up, etc?
They had hired an actor to be the Suck Up action figure. The guy was standing in a human-size cardboard and clear plastic box, frozen with a grin and a thumbs-up gesture. There was a large group of people hanging around him taking great joy in trying to provoke the Suck Up into reacting in some way. Alas, had it not been for them (and the fact that I was running late for my appointment), I would have been able to take a picture.
This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs
Tiffany Baxendell Bridge is an Internet enthusiast and an incurable smartass. When not heckling the neighborhood political scene on Twitter, she can be found goofing off with her ukulele, Bollywood dancing, or obsessing about cult TV. She is That Woman With the Baby In the Bar.
Tiffany lives in Brookland with her husband Tom, son Charlie, and two high-maintenance cats. Read why Tiffany loves DC.
