The Working Commute

Sometimes work just isn’t done at work.  There can be any number of reasons why but they all lead to the same result, a commute spent huddled over your laptop racing to complete that all-important PowerPoint presentation before your 9:30 meeting with the team from Hu & Kares.  The working commute is the Australia of the office drone's world, everything around can and will kill you(‘re presentation) if you don't tread lightly.

It’s not the first time and it certainly won’t be that last that you find yourself standing on a platform waiting for a train while putting together slide after slide in your mind.  The first battle of any working commute is sitting down.  The alternative, one hand loosely gripping your laptop as the other furiously fumbles through the work of two, meanwhile, an awkwardly wide stance is the only thing to stopping you from tumbling backwards, is a less than promising scenario for the working commuter.  You’re going to be pressed for time even in ideal conditions but if you’re relegated to the aisle you’re dead on arrival.  

You board the train pushing past children, the elderly, pregnant women, and men twice your size, all of whom can be equally terrifying at 6 am.  Soon, though, you realize in moment of acute panic that there are no empty seats.  After walking through three, four, five cars, the panic swells inside you.  Finally you spot a three-person seat occupied by only two commuters each blissfully unaware of the blatant infraction of commuter cordiality you are about to commit. 

One passenger glances up and you awkwardly lock eyes.  Her face suddenly drops in horror as she realizes you’re headed directly for that middle seat.  You shamefully pose the question, “Excuse me, would you mind if I sit there?”  The person on the end stands politely to let you in but her eyes betray her true feelings.  She would happily sacrifice her fresh steaming hot morning coffee just to pour it on your head so that her pain could become yours. 

With seating clumsily taken care of you direct your attention to the presentation and get to work.  The people on either side look on as you create text boxes, build pie charts, and utilize stock photography with a speed unlike any they have seen before.  Their audience only fuels your ambitions but the Sistine Chapel of presentations you had created in your mind slowly morphs into that one drawing you made in 3^rd grade that even your own grandmother was reluctant to put on the fridge. 

The mantra, “almost done, almost there, just a couple more slides,” repeats over and over in your mind until finally your work is done.  Never before has something plagued with so many typos and inconsistent font types received the designation of "presentation_FINAL"  but that team from Hu & Kares will indeed have the pleasure of idly nodding along for 15-20 minutes all the while waiting for your “Questions & COmments” slide thanks to the wonderfully mind-numbing monotony that is the daily commute.