Morning Rush!

On my way into work this morning on the Orange line, we seem to have some technical difficulty with the doors. I get on at North Station and head toward Forest Hills (Or as the loud speaker says it “Fow-Rest Hills”) I hop on the T and it is a sardine packed train for sure. I am lucky I got on! We go one stop to Haymarket. When we stop, I have to get off the train to let people off at their stop and get back on. So, I let a few people off and hop back on. Then the doors close. Then open. Then close. Then open. I am packed in tightly with strangers and we aren’t going anywhere. A girl looks at me and goes “This isn’t a good sign is it?”

It turns out that the train car in front of us was having a door problem and since it is connected to the button that controls all the doors, now all doors have the same problem because none of them will close and stay closed. People grow irritated as we wait for what seems like forever and they want to leave the train so I have to get off the train to let them off. As I am getting back on the train, the driver is trouble shooting the doors. However, she doesn’t start trouble shooting until I am smack dab in the middle of the doorway. Surely this wasn’t on purpose but it sucked. My back pack is getting slammed. The doors keep going open and shut, open and shut. All I can think of is my Italian leather stilettos from Saks getting pummeled inside my bag. To save my shoes I step back onto the platform since I couldn’t cram back on the train at that time. SLAM! Instead of my back pack-slash-stiletto’s being pummeled, it is now my rib cage! People gasp and start cursing the T driver telling her to be more careful. Obviously she can’t hear them but it makes them feel better about the wind being knocked out of me. There is usually a mechanism that stops the doors from slamming object but I am willing to guess that sensor-slash-mechanism is what was broken!

The next time someone wants to get off the train while there is a problem with the door, they can chill. I am staying put!