Alone on the Bus

It was an odd and interesting day today, as the two companies I work at had conflicting holiday schedules. The client’s offices were closed today, in observance of
Martin Luther King Jr. Day; but the Nerdery (my actual employer) was open for business.

Normally, I’d go in to the client’s office to work. But instead, I went in and hung out at the Nerdery office – which was a nice change of pace. I’m used to being there at the end of the week, and less used to being there on a Monday.

Funny bit of trivia: up until now, I’d always attended our front end standup meetings via video… as I’d always been off-site on Mondays, at the client’s office. Today was the first time I attended this particular meeting in person, and it just felt weird.

I’m so used to seeing the meeting room from the camera’s viewpoint, it felt a little surreal to actually be in the room.

As I was making my way to the Metra stop downtown, during the last two stops I realized that I was completely alone on the bus. There were definitely fewer people out and about today, and this added to the slightly “out of the ordinary” feeling I had today.

Just me.

As interesting as it was to be all by myself, I immediately thought about how inefficient this was – a huge bus just transporting one person around. And then we arrived at my stop, and I stepped off. And it became a bus full of empty people.

Related:
Fleeting Flossmoor
A Lonely Night at the Laundromat
Time Warp
Eating Alone