i’ve been mildly obsessed with the life of an amtrak worker for a while now, well mainly since i started the weekly jaunts to the north of ny client.
so today, i missed my commuter train home for a series of reasons –i found myself in union station with an hour to kill. right-to the bar at center cafe.
don’t worry i was good
for the first 35 mins i was able to listen, not even eavesdrop really (b/c the chick was so fucking loud) about a what i’d guess is a middle manager marketing chick that is on the road with a team of directors–she was drunk and yammering ad nauseum about her dad, and how he’s 71 and the fucking best person ever, and he could die at any time. her boss (i assume) who looked 67, did not seem amused, perhaps by the subject matter, or by the fact that this chick was not gonna bed with him. it was awesome, she was loaded, like SNL drunk girl style
so i, and my new compatriot at the stool next to me, got some smiles and laughs out of sally loaded. after a while, a woman in amtrak garb showed up and occupied the stool next to me, and the seemingly random screwdriver that had been on the bar for 25 mins.
turns out she’s an amtrak employee, working the 1st class car of the acela. paydirt!. so i (uncharacteristically) struck up a conversation with her. loosly based on my assertion that the acela is a marketing scam and business class on the regional is a better deal. she, with out confirming that, confirmed that, then started to relate stories about the acela first class clientelle. fucking brilliant–
lawywers and policiticans not paying for their ticket–now mind you, booze is inclusive, airline first class like. this morning, between boston and nyc (3hrs) she had a guy that cleaned out her scotch stock (10 of those ‘nip’ bottles) and then moved to red wine (3 mini bottles). AND THIS WAS THE MORNING RUN–god bless him.
so natty lay off, i’m not that bad.
she affirmed that there are some pretty wild and crazy stories– apprently the long haul trains are the worst (or best). DC to chicago she often has to break up people getting it on in the seats, and shit. good times.
best part is she knows june, my MGD pusher. i dunno i thought that was cool.
I would have loved to carry one with her, but i had to leave for my train–the marc, she said “oh man, that’s cattle car time on that”
cattle car, indeed
4 responses so far ↓
1 Natty // May 4, 2007 at 10:54 am
best part is she knows june, my MGD pusher. i dunno i thought that was cool.
what does that mean?
2 don // May 4, 2007 at 2:10 pm
Weird, i saw comments in the RSS feed but don’t see them here. WTF?
3 jefke // May 4, 2007 at 5:01 pm
june was the cafe car woman/bartender on my last 2 trips back from nyc. she knew that i ordered the miller genuine draft (MGD) and was very nice. when i walked on the 2nd trip she said “i’ll put some on ice” with prompting. which i think was cool
4 cormac // May 7, 2007 at 11:47 am
I just went down to our (LA’s) train station for the first time ever yesterday. Headed to San Francisco with the gal for Memorial Day, and I thought I could get there faster, with less effort and in greater style, if I took the train. 9.5 to 12 hours and $120-200 per person, plus 3 transfers. That’s about 20% more than a 45-minute flight, and even with gas, about twice the price of a 5.5-hour drive.
Which is stupid.
If we had an Acela out here that went SF->LA and LS–>Vegas, I’d be all over it.