Clueless on the Fitchburg Line

The 5:45 a.m. Fitchburg commuter rail can be a pleasant ride if the train is on time, which is about 30 percent of the time.

It's mellow. Commuters are either quietly reading or catching a last few minutes of sleep.

It's usually quite peaceful.

Enter the middle-age woman who ripped off three phone calls, babbling loudly like it was midday in the Penn Station concourse.

So the car full of 75 or so commuters had to listen to phrases like "I'll round back with you," "let's touch base" and "ping me when you get in" three separate times.

These weren't critical calls. You could tell by the conversation, which we all had to endure. "Ha, ha, ha, ha ... yeah, well, enjoy your weekend."

"Oh,is Brian coming? Good for you! Tell him I said hello."

As we arrive at North Station, commuters looked forward to some peace on the Green or Orange Lines, or perhaps a brisk walk to their office.

Except for the clueless middle-age woman who stops cold on the narrow platform to check her Blackberry, forcing commuters to split into two lines to get by and move on with their day.

Clueless.

Comments

[Holden Caulfield]

Ah, we feel your pain on all the other lines. I ride Kingston and the whole train often seems like one big party. Yesterday two women sat right next to each other and proceeded to scream an entire conversation. I just crank up my music. I'll switch from Wilco to Rage Against the Machine. I have read stories about other commuters asking the people to tone it done but I feel like you never know who is carrying a weapon.

[Tom W.]

I take the same train, Fitchburg #404, in the mornings. A few months ago, a group of middle-aged women relocated from the forward car to the one I usually sit in. They seem to be a highly caffeinated bunch. My formerly quiet, meditative commute has been transformed into the set of 'The View'--complete with long, shrill jags of high-volume cackling.
I think the MBCR should have a dedicated "Quiet Car", where cell phone use is prohibited and conversations must be kept to a whisper!

[Dan]

Holden - Jim Steele would agree. Rage works just fine.

Tom - you get it.

[Poppy]

This is why I adore my UNDERGROUND train ride, in NYC, where they make you think no signal can reach there so the phones just magically don't work. (Unlike Washington D.C. ...)