Ever have one of those days?

Yeah, me too. Like today, for instance. My rant du jour is going to come down square on the LIRR. The Long Island Rail Road. Or, as we commuters like to say, "Like It Really Runs". And today, boy, did it SO NOT RUN.

2 hours for a 40 minute trip? Yeah, why not. Not like I had anything else to do - like get to work on time to make the bosses happy. Or go to the BATHROOM. Get coffee. You know - the simple things in life that keep us all copacetic.

But what is worse? WORSE than sitting on a train for 2 hours? Being told repeatedly by the disembodied voice of the conductor - who was, incidentally, hiding like the pussy that he was in his little booth, refusing to come out and answer questions or take his punishment from a few hundred irate customers like a MAN - telling us, "blah blah police action" "blah blah 30-40 minute delays" (even when it was an hour, an hour ten, and so on and so forth). And then he kept saying, "we're waiting our turn for track space." So, what, those 22 TRAINS THAT PASSED US WHILE WE WERE WAITING HAD SPECIAL DISPENSATION???!?!?

Anyway. Sure. We got there. In the end. It could have been worse. I could have had an hour plus delays last week, too, OH, wait, I DID.

So, today I got to spend my third hour of "make up time" at my office. You know what that is. The FREE TIME I had to dedicate at my office, continuing my little rat-like scurrying around simply because the LIRR did what it does best.

NOT RUN.

So, Gee, you Union dudes - the folks who brought us a 98% "disability" rating among your retired employees - thanks.

P.S.

What could be worse, you say?

I'll tell you what could be worse - the news fast on the heels of the "investigation" that showed "human error" at fault for 2 TRAINS COLLIDING IN THE STATION (ya think? Maybe it would be a good idea to take the iPods away from those guys at the wheel) - but, come on, think hard, what might really be the icing on the proverbial shit cake?

A 25-30% FARE HIKE!

So, for the vastly overpriced fare of a mere monthly cost of $275 I can, that's right, STAND STILL ON A STINKY TRAIN WITH A COWARDLY CONDUCTOR HIDING IN HIS HOLE AND A BUNCH OF COMMUTERS BLABBING ON THEIR CELL PHONES.

Ain't life grand?