Septa.arg

That most awful of awful things has happened - the goddamned transit strike. This means I have to drive to the nearest regional rail station, desperately search for parking, hoof over to the station and, finally, pay double what I would normally pay to chug along to work next to a frowny lady doing a crostic and only allowing me to displace her comfortably seated handbag when I specifically ask her to move it. Oh, and then walk 6 blocks to work (not that I don't need the exercise).

The plus side: the glorious weather we are enjoying in the Mid-Atlantic right now makes for a pleasant walk. Sunlight dapples the train parking lot macadam as I trudge across it. The leaves are starting to change color in earnest now. I don't really miss the unmistakable "hot urine" smell of the El platform. I woke up early and actually arrived at work on time.

I'm not altogether pleased about the strike, but what's lame is the way the local media chooses to portray it: Septa workers are being accused (in a veiled sort of way) of being grasping, Union-coddled goldbrickers who want a free ride. The truth is, however, that Septa management has been lining its pockets while negotiating with its workers. Also worth noting: the management-to-worker ratio is nearly 1:1. Not to mention that the workers have given up sick pay. Booby almost took a job that offered zero sick time. I say almost because the lack of paid sick time was a dealbreaker.

Here is what the local news has to say about it.

The strike went into effect last night at midnight. We went online at 12:15 to see what was up since we had missed the news update on TV, and only one local site had the information. All the other local news outlets couldn't be bothered. Thanks, Action News.