Now, for those of you who live somewhere else, besides Philadelphia, I assume you have mass transit, or at least think of how mass transit should be in a “bigger” city.

Well, Philadelphia is one of those “bigger cities” or at least, you’d think we would be, ranking 6th in the nation for “largest cities”… We used to be 5th, but Atlanta apparently is spreading like a wild fire…

Anyway.
I’ll start my stories of SEPTA with this little exchange a co-worker had with them last week after a major rain storm swept through the area.

Dear Facility Manager,

I want to say your maintenance team does an excellent job of keeping the subway as clean as possible. However, I do not think it is a good idea to do the usual heavy mopping job during a rainstorm such as today. The mud mixed with the additional water from the mopping makes the platform and stairs extra messy and very hazardous to the passengers. I have witnessed seniors holding on to the hand rails for dear life as they walk down the stairs and I was also afraid of falling even though I am wearing sneakers. I think Septa’s primary focus should be on keeping the subway platform and stairs dry and safe instead of worrying about cleaning on days like today.

Sincerely, Ms. ___________

Passenger at Tasker- Morris

Pretty clear cut, a nice quick note written from work after riding on the subway to work in the morning…
Just one of those things you file in the suggestion box, hoping it reaches someone of authority and decision making abilities…

Today she got a reply.

Ms. _________,

Please no that the safety of our customers is our first priority. We will forward your concern/suggestion to Management at the Rail Transportation Division for consideration.

Thank you for contacting us concerning this matter.

SEPTA Customer Service

Read the first sentence again.

When I was in 3rd grade, I had a bitch of a time learning to read and write… They never could decide if I have dyslexia, or if I was just horrendously bored in school with what they were trying to teach me… What ever it was, I ended up in extended tutoring to get over some of the things I was tripping over. One of them was the written difference between “no” and “know”. I was a smart kid, and could have a detailed conversation with adults, but something in my brain just couldn’t click when it came to writing the same thing down. I’m sure my long time readers have thought “where did this guy learn to write?” or have openly laughed at my use of the written language at times… Regardless, all of that is one of the main reasons I don’t have a job responding to public comment in a large public service company or institution.

I’m 28 now, and after a year of tutoring, I’m able to write “know” when I mean “know” and I’m able to write “no” when I mean “no”