Lesson #22- Don't forget to request a stop

When I first arrived to Boston, I wasn't entirely familiar with the subway system. Turns out, when you emerge from underground to the street level while traveling on the Green Line, you have to request each stop by pulling on a wire that hangs above the sitting areas, illuminating the "request stop" sign. If you don't, the train operator will assume that no one needs to get off at the stop and just keep going to the next one. Luckily, I didn't have to learn the hard way, since all my stops were highly trafficked and were always requested by numerous passengers. The lady traveling on my train last night wasn't quite as lucky. 

It's pretty easy to spot when someone is getting close to their stop.  They become more alert, start gathering their things, and make their way to the closest door. I should have known something was wrong when the alert, gathered woman started making her way to the closest doors and the "request stop" sign was not on. She was three doors away from the first one, the one closest to the operator. The train stopped at her stop only because the traffic light was red, but since the lady couldn't see that, she had assumed that the train was stopping at her stop. The doors did not open and... 

All of a sudden, I was at a baseball game. This was definitely the bottom of the ninth and she needed to get to home plate to win the game. The ball is sent flying up into the air and she takes off to second base. She has no time to see what's going on. Her focus is zoomed in on the third base coach, motioning for her to keep going. She picks up speed as she comes around the third base, home plate in sight. Gathering all the energy she has left, she flies towards home plate, making it just before the ball lands in the glove of the catcher, waiting there. SHE'S SAFE! THE GAME IS OVER! HER TEAM WINS!!! 

Let's rewind. What really happened was the doors she was standing in front of didn't open, she panicked, turned to the left and ran to the next one, and when that one didn't open, she ran to the next one until she ended up at the front of the train, head to head with the operator, who kindly opened the door for her and let her off the train just in time for the traffic light to turn green. Would have been way cooler to be at a baseball game, but, hey, this was almost just as good. 

So there you have lesson #22. Simply put, when the train is traveling on street level, don't forget to request a stop or you might end up going on to the next one.