Ah, Metro. Scorn of Washingtonians everywhere, and unfortunate mode of transportation to descending tourist hordes.
In this edition, I pick on this poor lady but she’s really symptomatic of a trend I’ve noticed in recent months when standing on the platforms. Several years ago Metro installed these boxy, rather pointless info tote boards where you can see when the next train is arriving, as opposed to the system that existed previously, which was more of a sit and just wait it out approach. I say these boards are useless because invariably they give you incorrect information. It says an 8-car train is arriving but actually only 6 appear. The train is arriving in 3 minutes but doesn’t show up for another four after that. You get the picture, Metro exists and it’s great to have it, but you can’t rely on anything it tells you.
What kills me about this lady (and her ilk) is that they stand perilously close to the platform’s edge and stare vacantly down the tracks as if the sheer will of using their sense of sight will make the train appear. They look, and nothing. They turn and look again, still nothing. Sure, go ahead and look again—even though the floor lights aren’t blinking, the headlamps of the train aren’t piercing their way down the train, and you can’t hear the unmistakable thunder sound of the train barreling down the track—maybe this time you made it appear like a Copperfield stunt. Hmmm, nope.
Drives me nuts that, while Metro is often a colossal mess, there are otherwise rather telltale signs of when a train is approaching. You staring down the platform deep into the tunnel’s abyss won’t make it show up any faster, and your decision to get pissed off and harumph all over the place is a big waste of time and stress. You’ve already decided to put your plans in Metro’s hands, you may as well relax and just wait for everything to happen, because Metro doesn’t care when you planned on doing anything, time is on their side, not yours.