August 1, 2007
MUNI Tales: 'That's Why It's Dangerous To Have Coffee On These Things'
True story from a crowded J-Church this morning. We were sitting quietly, a little zoned out, holding the 20 oz. cup of coffee that we'd obtained at our neighborhood cafe with both of our hands, which had become rather cold from time outside. Yes, we had a lid on it.
The J-Church, particularly when it's on the streets heading from Dolores Park up to Market St., is a little herky-jerky. One well-known hazard faced by regular MUNI riders (whether bus or street car): you take a risk if you stand or try to move in advance of the vehicle actually coming to a complete stop. Chances are good you might take a dive if you try it. Hasn't this happened to most of us at one time or another? We recall a particularly embarrassing tumble on the 1 California a number of years ago.
And, yeah, we'll admit carrying a coffee on your morning commute is a calculated risk as well.
So, here's what happened: a woman, perhaps a relative MUNI noob, tried to shuffle closer to the exit door while the car was still in motion, just as it did one of its back-and-forth jerking things. She went flying into the woman sitting next to us, who bravely bore the brunt of the impact -- but then the tumbler continued her descent and knocked against our shoulder and arms, finally balancing herself against our torso. Oops!
Now, we've got fairly steady hands, and we're willing to sacrifice our body for the sake of coffee -- thus very little was spilled, and it was all on your correspondent.
Hey, fair enough, Like we said, we knew drinking coffee on MUNI was a calculated risk. We accepted that risk--and had that risky behavior affected others (i.e., if we'd gotten coffee on someone else), we'd have apologized profusely and offered compensation if appropriate (like for a cleaning bill).
We figured those brave enough to jump the gun and start moving before the car stops should have about the same attitude. In fact, in our opinion it was a "no harm, no foul" situation. Her fall didn't hurt us nor our neighbor, our coffee didn't make much of a mess, only our respective minor annoyances (her embarrassment; our need to clean up just a little) were the only fallout from the whole affair.
Well, she couldn't leave well enough alone for some reason. She actually looked at us and as we started cleaning our hands and jacket and said, "That's why it's dangerous to have coffee on these things."
What?! Are you kidding? Geez. Seriously, if we both just silently acknowledge we were taking risks and went on our merry way, wonderful -- but that's some audacity to pull a Chevy Chase-worthy pratfall, slam into two people, then chastise one of those people for daring to have a drink.
So are we way off base? Should we forgo coffee on the J forever? Anybody fallen on you on the MUNI lately? Any other recent annoyances ya'll care to share?
(oh, gawsh, and if you actually saw the above incident, please let us know how silly all parties involved looked!)
|
Normally I'd say that was really obnoxious of her, but isn't coffee (along with all other food and drink) technically not allowed on MUNI, with a lid or not?
No, you're not off base. Drinking coffee and chewing gum are technically not allowed on MUNI, but it's not enforced, and it's nothing new for people to drink coffee on their commutes.
Just think how much more miserable the bus would be if you deprived caffeine addicts their morning fix? The drivers have to know that would be a terrible idea.
It would be one thing if you were the one who fell with your coffee while making your way to the door, but if you were seated and someone bumps into you...not at fault.
She was probably just embarrassed and needed to deflect the attention she'd drawn to herself by attempting to make someone else look like the bad guy.
If you don't have the balance to work your way through a moving bus/train, it's your fault, not some random person quietly enjoying their coffee.
i agree, if you need coffee, either buy it near your destination, or put it in a used water bottle, or Nalgene (basically something spill proof), and keep it sealed until you get to your desintation.
This is a common mishap on MUNI. People don't realize that moving around on a herky jerky bus is just asking for trouble. And hot drinks? Fuggedaboutit.
I had a MUNI Street Theater incident similar to this back in May...
http://www.njudahchronicles.com/2007/05/muni_street_theater_psa_why_yo.html
one word: reusable commuter coffee cups. good for the environment and good for transporting your coffee through the urban jungle.
Jeremy, that's four words. But! Excellent point.
I believe you were in the wrong. There are signs all over the bus asking you to not do things, including bring on food and drink. We shouldn't "cherry pick" the rules we like to follow versus the ones we do not like.
So if you want your coffee on your MUNI ride, I get on free, I get to tag your briefcase, I get to bring on a pit bull and shoot up. But I would never bring hot coffee on MUNI, that is against the rules.
I'd take your coffee cup into your local quack and get a certificate claiming you need "service coffee" to deal with your depression. Your Starbucks could ride free and unmuzzled. No lid required!
If you're going to break the law and drink on MUNI, make it a vodka filled Pepsi can, just like Joan Crawford would have done.
If it spills it's not hot, and leaves no stains. Work is a lot more fun too!
Walking around drinking coffee is almost unheard of elsewhere in other countries.
I know I will sound like a condescending jerk, but people who drink coffee on the run are tacky idiots. Yes, all of you people using to-go cups. Whether it be Ritual Roasters or Starbucks. You are all tacky idiots.
Boy, that felt really good!
Well, I don't know about tacky, but I think this is an example of smugness: rules are for other people.
You come perilously close to blaming the passenger who stumbled on the streetcar for your thoughtlessness in bringing coffee on board. And then you get upset because she has the temerity to point this out to you. You defend yourself by saying that your (and others') addiction to caffeine trumps any other consideration, including the safety and convenience of the other passengers. Yes, in this instance you didn't spill coffee on others, but the possibility still exists that you might at another time. Could you possibly be more self-centered?
Perhaps, MUNI, knowing that sometimes people will be jerked around (this is pretty much unavoidable given San Francisco's topography and its idiotic drivers and cyclists who cut in front of the buses and trains), thinks it's a bad idea to have drinks and food on the bus or train, and hence has made it against the rules? Not to mention the extra cost for cleaning the vehicles when the inevitable spillage occurs.
for all you people saying the coffee holder was at fault .... what are you talking about? coffee only got on the coffee holder, not the idiot who fell. the idiot who fell was copping a tude for no reason.
i'm a little stunned by all the rule nazis here shocked at bringing coffee on the muni. of all the things people bring on muni, coffee is probably the least problematic and most mainstream. not to mention that i've never seen such a high proportion of people come down on the side of law and order. guess you all don't speed, cross on a red, double park or tear of the tags on your mattresses either.
and yeah, to the git above whining about tacky americans walking around with coffee, you are indeed a condescending jerk. people in other countries do lots of stuff differently. why exactly that a reason for us to emulate them? plus, most people in other countries don't even drink coffee, so maybe that has something to do with it. oh, and tacky is trying to force your world view on other people.
Captain Disco, how dare you. Don't you realize that Internet Sanctimony is sacred? We're all perfect beings here.
I have to say you were in the wrong. I saw a woman on the 38 the other morning almost spill her coffee and I couldn't believe she thought being on a crowded bus, where bus drivers make their day interesting by jerking and braking, would bring that on. I would have said something to you had you spilled next to me, even if I bumped you by accident. Then again, being on Muni is like being at the airport - everything pisses me off, and my normally chill personality turns monstrous.
You're both wrong. Her trying to scold you after the fact is lame. I wish people would say these things in person to other people. What better time to have this discussion than on the boring, silent, J ride? "Hey, I feel annoyed you're holding what looks like a cup of hot coffee on this crowded train because it could spill on someone and I'd hate for that to happen to me."
"Hey, I'm addicted to coffee, and think I'm above the rules, and will demonstrate classic SF entitlement behavior if anyone does anything less than cool like try to get to the door before the train stops."
etc., etc., etc...
"Food in open containers or poorly protected containers, such as coffee or soft drinks in paper or Styrofoam containers, whether covered or not, may not be allowed on board."
"Do not smoke, eat, drink, litter, or disturb other Muni passengers. (California Penal Code § 374.4, § 64)"
"The following are not allowed on our vehicles or at our Metro stations (under section 128 of the Municipal Traffic Code or under section 6 of the Municipal Police Code):
* Smoking,
* Eating
* Drinking
* Playing sound equipment without earphones
* Littering"
http://www.sfmta.com/cms/mrider/ridetips.htm
==========
BART has similar rules, but has cops who actually patrol the trains and ticket people. I saw a woman drinking a starbucks get nailed between 16th and civic center.
Well, whether or not you were in the right or wrong on the bus, you're in the right for posting it on SFist, because this is an interesting little debate! (name-calling aside)
It's because of incidents like this that I avoid eating full steak-and-pasta dinners on AC Transit.
Well, it's also a rule to "PLEASE HOLD ON."
There was one time I was on a bus where a woman's coffee splashed a little bit onto this older gentleman's nice, cream-colored jacket. She felt so bad and kept offering to pay for his dry-cleaning. But he wouldn't hear of it.
Now that's class.
You should call 311 and submit a recommendation to Muni that they need to change the announcement on all the buses and relabel the street cars. The bus could read out every 5 minutes an updated announcement just for you:
"Eating, drinking, and smoking are prohibited on all transit vehicles except for sfist_jeremy."
On the other hand, I can understand why you thought you could bring coffee on a jerky and crowded train. If you treat the "and" in the reminder (which apparently you've heard over and over but chose to ignore) as a *logical* "and", one could argue that you were not eating, drinking, and smoking at the same time, so therefore were well within the advertised rules.
The thing about coffee is that it could actually burn someone if it is very hot. I'd be more than pissed if somebody spilled an extra-hot, no foam, half-caffe skim latte on me!
coffee: totally ok by me.
moving about while J in motion: she should be publicly humiliated.
I hate it when people get so worked up over the thought of exiting the train/bus that they can't control themselves and have to, at all costs, get right next to the door. I have been standing in the vicinity of the doors, and when my stop arrives, and have turned around to face the doors, to indicate to any sane person that I'm about to get off - and had breathless people scuze me scuze me to get in front of me before the train even stopped. These people need to get some coffee spilled on them.
And this is why the rest of the country thinks San Francisco is filled with a bunch of uptight, self-entitled, whiny, smug a-holes - because it is. Reminds me of the South Park episode where Kyle's dad buys a Prius, drives it all over town to show off to everyone how "green" he is and moves the family to San Francisco, where a giant cloud of smug forms that threatens to destroy the planet.
People who think a cup of coffee doesn't belong on a subway/train/bus commute are special brand of city-ignorant dweebs who should be set on fire. Or peed on. Or set on fire and then peed on.
My Boston homies back East would double over in laughter at the idea of people complaining about someone - god forbid - drinking coffee on a subway.
Fact is the moron who got the bright idea to shove herself to the exit while in motion was a pompous idiot who deserved what she got.
I've never come even close to falling down on a subway or bus, even when NOT holding onto something - why? Because I know how to ride public transit. On the other hand, I've had plenty of morons (often tourists, college freshmen or suburbanites who recently moved to the city) fall on me when the subway jerked or stopped suddenly.
[22] It's also illegal to pee on someone on MUNI, especially if it's coffee pee.
Muni stinks too much for eating or drinking, in my opinion, but carrying a cup of coffee's not so bad. People eat whole, fragrant McDonald's meals on there.
Basic rule: If the doors are closed, sit down or hang on. Why can't people get this?
Lashing out at someone else for your own pratfall is negative class.
You are way off base. She had every right to give you a little lip (if you can call it that-- It was a pretty mild comment-- you sure are touchy).
Jas, passengers moving too the door ahead of the stop save time.
Jeremy, you drank coffee at your own risk. This time you paid the price. It is dangerous to have coffee on "these things." It's also dangerous not to hold on.
I would love a cup of coffee right now. I'm safely seated and not on MUNI. Join me?
i can't believe how many writers are chastising you, after that clumsy oaf caused the coffee to spill onto you. i second Jas's earlier comments. why is it so many people are as rude as this lady, pushing their way to the doors? it reminds me of when airplanes are boarding and tons of people stand in front of the gate before it's their turn to board. or at the coffee shop ;) when people stand where the drinks come out in front of people who ordered before them. sorry aj, these people do not save anyone any time, they are just rude. i could list other examples. has anyone taken a bike on caltrain recently? that is an absurd experience. i don't think the people are rude as much as caltrain has designed the worst possible service where civil behavior becomes difficult.
I get the sense that all of these anti-coffee, pro-Muni rule jerkoffs drink tea. Which, we all know, is for pussies. So are stupid rules like no drinking on the bus. Would people complain about a bottle of water? Yeah, the nerve of some people trying to stay hydrated.
Chinanob got it right: Only in SF do people complain about such inane matters, and only in SF do people preach about following the rules by the book, when they break a few on their own. Hell, I bet more than a few of these Nazis have done a fair amount of public drinking in Delores Park.
And I've yet to hear about any tragic accidents involving a cup of coffee on the bus. Except for some douche bag getting a stain on his jacket, which, to me, isn't that tragic.
This town really needs to lighten up. SFist Jer, enjoy your coffee on the J. Next time I'm riding the 5 with my large coffee, I'll think of you.
As much as I need my coffee in the morning, and as much as that satisfied need would benefit other Muni riders in my vicinity if I could have my coffee mug permanently fixed to my hand on my bus rides, I have to disagree here. Muni rules state that you are not allowed to drink in their vehicles. If you ride the cars in the afternoons, you definitely see why: cups under seats or sliding around the bus, sticky floors, etc. I think this passenger was a tacky nob for chastising you after she crashed into you, but you're also in the wrong for specifically breaking the rules.
Also to those people who think the passenger was in the wrong just by trying to get to the door: what, it was better if she leisurely made it to the door and demanded everyone wait for her to get to the door, then ask the driver to stop and open the back door? I've been on those buses, and I just want to pull them down onto my seat until the next stop. People should be so prepared that they are waiting at the door for the next stop! It would make Muni operate so much more quickly.
Ok, come on, Jer totally took responsibility for bringing coffee on MUNI, and when some oaf caused it to spill on himself, he wasn't really angry. The obnoxious part of the interaction was the blame FROM to oaf TO him for having coffee in the first place, whereas she had the balance of a one legged dog.
I take coffee on muni, but I take it in a travel mug that is spill proof (sorry to say it, we all hate Starbucks, but they have the BEST spill proof cups!)
And, good point - these "no drinks on muni" people have broken their share of rules, I am sure!
SFist Jer...you are just as big of a pussy for calling out the woman for shuffling to the door as she was for calling you out for having coffee on the train. Except, she can't defend herself. I hope you didn't get paid for this post. You remind me of those burglars that try to sue the homeowners of homes they are burglarizing when they homeowners catch them in the act and happen to have a gun and shoot.
Now...coffee on MUNI...remember the lady that sued McD's for getting burned by the coffee she spilled on herself while driving after it was served to her in the drive thru? You are lucky not to have spilled the coffee onto someone else, especially an un-muzzled pit who could have taken your hand off.
I dread having people stand over me with a cup of coffee on MUNI, because I had someone spill an entire piping hot cup on me years ago.
Like you, I had grabbed an occassional cup of joe to bring on my commute, but that incident taught me a valuable lesson. Just don't do it.
What actually annoys me more though, is the afternoon school kid crowd who bring bags of stinky fast food on the bus. It's not just that they toss around french fries and whatnot, it's that funky, nasty McSmell that ruins an otherwise nice commute.
But no on the coffee. It just takes one disaster to learn that lesson.
Herky Jerky is officially my favorite phrase now!
Before anything else:
sfist_jeremy didn't cause her to fall. Her blaming him for her fall was ridiculous. And she was blaming him, if she said what sfist_jeremey said. (What's why it's dangerous to have coffee on these things?)
But really, sfist_jeremy, why the hell are you telling us? Jesus man, no one reads SFist to hear your banal ranting. Move on.
How I love coffee and need MUNI. I live and work in the city and do not own a car. So I'm a MUNI bus commuter.
I'll have to say that both people were wrong. First, hot coffee on a packed bus - even if everyone is hanging on with both hands, knuckles white with the fear of God and MUNI drivers - is a bad idea. People get jerked around and bump.
So, let's think of others and wait to get coffee on the business side of our commute and not the home side. And please wait for the bus to come to a complete stop before heading to the door.
To everyone who is waiting to get their coffee and is also waiting for a full stop to move to the door, thank you. I'm a fellow MUNI commuter and I appreciate your thoughtfulness.
BACK DOOOOOOR!
Falling == accident.
Coffee in a to-go cup == premeditated and inconsiderate.
I sometimes move toward the door so that, when the bus stops, I can get off and the bus keeps moving. I also keep a good hold on, and don't use MUNI for rush hour commuting, usually only weekends.
ride your damn bike, and get off the caffeine addiction. yell at cars and the suckas on the buses. it's much more fun.
Get on the bus without coffee, wearing your Star Trek Uniform (you will get a seat), and let the Caffeine Tractor Beam (CBT) pull you to work.
So it was mainly luck that the coffee wasn't hot and didn't spill on anyone else, or is your Muni-Fu so strong that you knew as you stepped on the J with your cup that this is how it would play out?
Personally I find the first cup of the day much more enjoyable in the comfort of my home or workplace...
[37] STEP DOWN!!!!!
I found this post amusing, and I can sympathize with the author. It's the comments I find irritating. This is a post about human interaction and etiquette. The author didn't feel the need to 'school' the stumbler on when or when not to shift position on the train. Yet, she felt the need to 'school' him on his decision to transport his coffee. It is seldom appropriate or polite to rebuke a stranger in a passing, insignificant societal situation. I would have been irked by that as well, as would most of the people who have posted comments here, had they been the ones receiving a scolding.
Regarding whether it's okay to bring coffee on the muni, one of the commenters says that walking around with a coffee to go is 'almost unheard of in other countries'. Umm, first, that sweeping generalization is laughably untrue. Second, if coffee-to-go is uncommon in other countries, other drinks are taken to go. In Moscow, it's cans of mixed vodka drinks. But in Paris, it's coffee. In Spain, it's coffee. Third, we're not in other countries, we're in America. So even if the generalization were true, it wouldn't matter. There are lots of ways in which American culture is different than other cultures. Doesn't mean we should emulate them, or them us.
Finally, yes, there are signs saying no food and beverages on the Muni. But if San Francisco wants to be a metropolitan city with a heavy reliance on public transportation and urban mobility, then it needs to consider the lifestyle of ridership, in which a ride on a train is part of one's day, rather than a break from it. If the food and bev law were to be enforced, riders would just choose to drive, instead. Is that what we want?