Wednesday, March 11, 2009

The F Word

Sometimes in order to get things done, you really need to use the F word.

Especially if it's true.

I'm not talking about the naughty F word, I'm talking about the other F word:

FIRE!

My El car caught fire this morning. Not the whole car, just the heating unit behind my seat. We could actually see flames licking up along the door. The first time it happened, the engineer came back and (I thought) turned off the heater.

But then it happened again two stops later.

The woman nearest it said, in a calm, but not very loud voice: "Can someone hit the button? It's happening again."

Now, this is fine, but not all the people on the train were the same ones who'd been there before. Specifically, the guy nearest said button had only just gotten on and had no clue there'd been a fire.

So I had to speak up. I'm a fairly soft-spoken person (stop laughing, it's true!) but I can make my voice carry - with authority - when I need to.

EEE(calling along the length of the train car): SIR! Press the emergency button please! The heater is on FIRE again.

Firm, loud, calm, no panic. Things progressed in an orderly fashion.

I guess I'm not as useless in a (psuedo)emergency as I thought.


So, the day can only get less interesting from here.

Have a great day, all!

Oh! And: HAPPY BIRTHDAY NOVA!!!!!!!!!!!!!

5 comments:

CeeKay1 said...

I hate the CTA.

Anonymous said...

I once yelled "THEATER!" at a crowded fire. It's one of my rights (the first, I think).

Anonymous said...

OMG. You know, transportation in and around the city.... (fill in your specific story) I could fill a book of commuter stories.

Now you know you are a person to be counted on in a bad situation. I'm proud of you. You didn't swear or get mad, you didn't panic -- yes...I am proud of you.

Terri

P.S. Happy Birthday Nova

Anonymous said...

Speaking of Nova, I clicked on his Topix thing and that's usually where I get the link to his blog. It's not there anymore. Does he still blog?

Terri

Angela said...

Gotta love public transportation. (I actually do!) I was on the 16 (Minneapolis-St. Paul, goes down University Avenue to connect the two downtowns--you get people from all walks of life on the 16) once and asked a woman to stop singing.

Learned quickly, do not talk to strangers on the 16.