I'm going to be in San Francisco for the entire afternoon for back-to-back meetings, and I'll try to do a post on the train back home this evening.
It's comforting that today was up in the market, since it was pretty much what I was expecting.
See you here later tonight………..
Supplement: Anti-Government Rant
Well, I am on the northbound train to San Francisco, and I just had a little experience I must share with Slopers.
I'll start by saying that, after watching this video last night of a Pastor (and family man, father of four) brutally Tasered by cops for no reason, I was going to do a wild-eyed, anti-government rant. But I figured you good people probably would become concerned about my mental health, so I decided to give it a pass.
Anyway, here's what happened. I had to catch an 1:11 p.m. CalTrain northbound. It was 1:08, so I ran like the dickens to the ticket machine, and I put in my credit card. I pushed all the buttons, and it finally said Error Reading Card. So I tried again. Same problem. I tried a different card. I tried both cards on a different machine. Same problem.
At this point, the train is pulling up, so I jump on board. Now, if I had any sense, I would have found a seat, sat down, and quickly jumped off at the next station to buy a ticket fast as lightning.
But, nope, Eagle Scout that I am, I just had to be Mr. Honest. I immediatley told the conductor the situation.
Now, with normal humans (that is, non-government employees), the response would have been any of the following:
- Awww, don't worry about it;
- You can try the next station real quick and get a ticket there;
- The ticket is $8, so just pay me that, and we'll be fine.
But, nope, none of this. What I'm told instead is that I can either (a) get off the train immediately (because "there's another train behind us" – – one hour from now); or (b) be issued a citation for evading the fare, whose fine they won't tell me, but they suggest it's like $100 or more.
I need to head north, so I take the citation. As he's writing me up, I'm trying to explain myself (again) and getting him to be reasonable, since I am totally willing and able to pay a ticket as long as there stupid machines work. "Well, you should have paid cash."
"But the machines don't work! If they accept credit cards, they should take credit cards!"
"Well, no one else on the train said there was a problem." (As if this makes it untrue)
"But I'm willing to buy a ticket! I just ran out of time before the train came."
"Well, being late is no excuse. Go sit down" And he hands me the citation.
In case anyone wasn't clear on this point, I consider people employed by the government to be employed by the government because private enterprise would not accept them. They are the bottom feeders of the capitalist system. Their puny brains are incapable of exercising judgment. And their failure to offer working machines has made a victim out of me, in spite of all attempts to be reasonable.
Twits.
