March 20, 2009
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The morning paper
Every morning, I have to cross a major New York bridge to get to work. Right before I get there, there is a signal that is always red to get onto the bridge. Every morning, there is a guy that sells copies of the Daily News. During the red light, he walks between the cars, and if you want one, you just roll down your window, and give him 50 cents.
At first, I though, “Who REALLY needs this.” I mean, there are stores everywhere, and so few places in Manhattan have parking inside the building where people work, so it’s highly plausible that people would walk past a store in the morning.
Then I thought that it was probably easy for people who just didn’t want to stop. I guess that it would be easy for them to have it brought to them while they sat at the red light, anyway. Maybe those people are pretentious and like being served.
Then I became one of those people. I swear, I have a completely valid reason. Almost without fail, when I come into work, the door that I come into is not near a small news stand that we have inside the building. In my rush to get to my desk (I have no idea why I rush. It’s not going anywhere), I always forget to stop there. Furthermore, I travel in the elevator two or three times for actual work related things before I remember that I need to go all the way down for the paper. By the time I’m done, I’ve gone up and down more times than a game of Elevator Action.
The past few mornings, I have made it a point to have 50 cents on me. Now, I get the paper handed to me while I wait, and there is no way to forget it. I wonder if that’s everyone’s excuse.
