Yesterday, I was a

Yesterday, I was a bit hesitant to whip out my camera to record the snowblower guy. Today, however, I shrugged off my self-consciousness, and snapped a photo of this bin. I’ve seen these big things around at the outdoor stops, but never really knew what was inside. I figured it was full of tools.

Turns out it’s sand. Talking with the CTA worker laying this down on the platform, I learned a few things. The city doesn’t use salt because of the potential damage to the tracks (and not, as I erroneously thought, to the wood on the platform). There was also some alternative to salt and sand… he mentioned some kind of pellet-based thing. That apparently has cow urine as one of its ingredients.

I asked to take the guy’s picture, as he spent a good deal of time talking me through the various options the city employs, as well as his day-to-day job. He was really a nice guy, and I’m sad I didn’t get his name. He declined on the photo, citing that it was a potential PR problem for him/the CTA.

When I talked to him about his job, he was very upbeat about everything. I mentioned how difficult it must be, when everyone else is always impatient and in a hurry to get somewhere else. His view of his job was this: “I’m at work; you’re trying to GET to work. If I’ve got to stop what I’m doing 10,000 times so you can get where you need to go… that’s the way it goes.” Like I said, really nice guy. Wish I would have gotten his name.