March 9, 2018
The Metro North is a northeastern regional train line. You buy a ticket and the conductor walks down the aisle and punches a card, which he sticks on your seat signifying at which stop you get off. I ride it every day and I usually get a seat but on this night it was crowded and I stood.
Sitting not far from me was a family, a father and his young children. They were about five years old and very cute, reading books on the ride. But it was crowded and cramped and bad as it was for me standing, it was worse for the conductor who had to squeeze his way down the aisle and check everyone’s ticket and punch a card for each one. So he could be forgiven if he just did his job and moved on down the line.
But he didn’t.
Wouldn’t you give this child a smile?
When he got to the family, he took some extra time with the tickets. While he made small talk with the kids (“Do you like the ride? Is it smooth enough?”) I watched him make a lot of extra punches in their tickets. I had no idea what he was doing but when he was finished, he handed them each a card which had a smiley face punched into it.
The kids were thrilled as only a little kid would be at getting a card with a smiley face punched in it. Their smiles were huge and they waved the cards in the air. They were happy, their father was happy, the conductor was happy, and I, who just happened to be looking at the right place at the right time, was happy too.
Look closely at the ticket in his hand.
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Mr. Blog's Tepid Ride 
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