The Commute From Hell

Happy Friday everyone! I thought I would give you a little insight into what my commute is like everyday of the week, so here it goes:

It is all down hill once I pull out of the gates of my apartment complex. Soon I pass the 7 11 that always seems to be shady outside. You never know what you might see. The usual is a few bums drinking 40′s on the side of the building but I have seen stranger things.

Once I pass the 7 11, it becomes even more shady. I pass a few strip clubs that never seem to close. There is an adult store that has had a “now hiring” sign up since I moved here. I never did stop in to find out more about the position, maybe I should.

I drive through at least 4 crosswalks along the way where the speed limit slows to 15 MPH and it pisses me off. I know it is for school children, but I have only seen like 3 children over the last four months. One of these days I am going to go 40 right through it, get pulled over, and go to jail. From there it is 3 squares a day and no more commute (probably not the best idea).

From there I pass many rundown buildings including an old Super 8 hotel, a few motels, and some abandoned used car dealers. I think from the time I leave my apartment until I get to work, I pass about 20 used car dealers that I would never think about purchasing a car from. They just don’t look like they would offer the best service.

I also pass about four liquor stores in a four mile stretch and not one, but two of them have a drive-in window to pick up booze. How convenient is that? Not to mention the 6 bars I pass along the way.

On any given day, I see at lease 4 “hookers”, or at least that it was I refer to them as. I am not sure if they are full blown prostitutes or not but I have a hunch they may be just that. Maybe one of these days I will pull over and get some more detailed information. I always wondered what type of rates there pulling in these parts.

I am used to seeing a lot of homeless along my commute, and most of them are drinking at the wee hours of the morning. I will admit on occasion I feel a little jealous for the guy sitting in his lawn chair drinking a 40 at 7:30 am. Maybe he really does have things figured out. It sure looks like it based on the smile he has everyday. I’m pretty sure he doesn’t have to commute.

There is one homeless guy I will never forget. I literally saw him take a dump behind a Circle K that ingrained a bad image in my head for life. It is not everyday you come by something like this. It really reminds you that wow, my commute sucks ass!

If that wasn’t enough, I once ventured on the city bus to work before I purchased a car, and that blew my mind as well. The whole ordeal lasted two days before I decided to give in and buy a car. The tipping point was when a homeless man sat down next to me, poked me in the arm and pointed at my lunch box. He then said “gimme that right now.” I didn’t even know how to respond to something like this. So I just put my headphones on and ignored him the rest of the trip.

It is a pretty interesting commute if I say so myself. And all of this seems to happen in a stretch of five miles on one road. I literally live on the same road as where I work, but all this happens in between. I sure am getting sick of it.

Anyone else have some interesting commutes to work?

Published on April 4th, 2008. And don't forget to check out my book, Life After the Cubicle.