For the Love of God, Please Take Your Newspaper With You When You Leave the Train

The announcer on the Red Line really wants you to take your newspaper with you and throw it out when you leave the train. He said so at Davis. And Porter. And Harvard. And Kendall. And Charles/MGH. By the time you get to Park Street, he is sobbing over the PA system: "Please...I beg you, for the love of God, TAKE YOUR NEWSPAPERS WITH YOU AND THROW THEM OUT.  Good God; have you no mercy?  Can't you see how I am suffering!?"

And why this monomania about the newspapers?  We never hear the announcer getting riled up about the empty Big Gulp cups, crumpled Skittles wrappers, or used, wet tissues lying all over the train.  He never tells us not to forget our nail clippings or handcuffs or prosthetic limbs.  He doesn't get worked up into a frenzy about the AA batteries and empty beer bottles that are rolling around on the floor for the entire ride - up the length of car...and down the length of the car. Over and over.

I guess this is an ongoing issue, and it touches a nerve for the announcer. People are pigs, and leave their discarded Metros all over the train, day in and day out. They can't be bothered to carry them two feet off the train to the nearest receptacle. So do your part and take your stupid Metro with you. Maybe if the folks who clean the trains didn't have to pick up 8,000 Metros every day, they could make some headway with the Skittles wrappers and tissues. Do it for your long-suffering announcer.  He really needs your help.

Comments

[Paul]

I love to read newspapers even though a lot of what they print is debatable or questionable.

[Adam]

I recently gave up on the T for my commute after 10 years of a downward spiral in service - one horror trip too many - but I also experienced these pleas from the train crews. My thoughts were:

-often I read the Metros left lying around, when I didn't get one at the station. Recycling is good.

-the T is run so poorly and cares so little for it's customers that I show them the same lack of respect in return. I do, however, throw out my cups and food items.

-how about putting trash receptacles on the trains? (I know, I know, bombs and all... hey, at least the terror alert announcements aren't happening at every stop any longer!)

Ellen - great posts, BTW. You're as cynical as I am!

[Ellen]

Adam,
Thanks! They will start to kick up the terror announcements when Bush's poll numbers drop below 20%. I love those announcements about being alert and telling someone if you see anything suspicious. I recently saw a suitcase sitting, personless, at the top of the Alewife escalator (which wasn't working, of course). I told two T employees. They didn't seem that interested. But it all worked out, because it belonged to the perky woman who sells Spare Change at the station.

[Fancy Pants]

Our tax dollars pay to clean and maintain the T stations, as you well know. So why should we remove our own papers, if we paid for them to do it? We are paying for it no matter what. So, let them worry about the trash.

Having a fresh paper sitting next to you on the T is a joy. Its free delivery. On the Commuter Rail of course ,there is a better selection. You even get free seat side delivery of the Financial Times and the Wall Street Journal, if you catch a ride at the right time and place.

[dui lawyer arizona]

While you can make a positive impact as a lawyer, litigation has little to do with virtue triumphing over evil.