As handy as the CTA's bus tracker is, sometimes it lies. I was supposed to have a four-minute walk that should've easily fit within my seven-minute clearance. Instead I was a half-block away from the stop as I watched the bus accelerate southbound through the intersection.
No problem, there's always a 22 bus as an alternate plan. Again I was left with seven minutes to book it two and a half blocks...in heels. And clearly I haven't had a need to wear heels at any time in the past eight months, so blisters were already forming.
Guess what happened when I was a half-block away? Southbound bus, intersection, acceleration. Luckily I live at a virtual crossroads of buses, so I just kept walking the next block over to the 156. Unfortunately, ten to fifteen minutes had already passed and I had another nine minutes to wait.
Anyone who knows me well is familiar with my anal retentive need to not only be on time, but early. And now I was not only destined to be late, but late to what was essentially a preliminary job interview.
If you'd like to fast forward about twenty minutes with me, I somehow managed to walk in the door, flustered and glistening a bit from the effort, only one minute late. Then it took only another fifteen seconds to learn that my recruiter was running late.
Thus, I spent a half hour at the Starbucks patio on Franklin and Chicago, people watching and taking pictures of the 'L' tracks. I felt justified in taking the afternoon off for napping and reading after all of the transportation excitement. And I think I'll wear flats for the rest of 2012.
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