Driving The Tollway (Originally posted October 6, 2009)

WARNING: INCOMING RANT!

Ok knew this was going to happen sooner or later but I thought it would be later. Oh well best get the first rant out of the way.

I did quite a bit of driving this weekend and ended up using the tollway for most of that traveling. I think I went through about 10 toll booths altogether and with the exception of 2, none of the attendants said a word to me.

Ok so here's the thing, I'm not looking for long and drawn out conversations with the people who are in the booths. In fact when I am behind someone and they are taking a long time at the booth I usually finding my self trying to imagine what they could possibly be talking about. But I don't think it's asking too much for one of them to say 'Thank You' or even reply with an 'Your Welcome' to my thank you. I always say thank you to them. No, I don't think it's too much to ask for.

One attendant did speak momentarily to me about the Bears game as we both had it on our radios and the other was nice enough to say 'Hi' when I pulled up. Now I can understand that the job can get quite boring but half the time they are talking on their cell phone and other than just shove their hand in my direction they don't even look at me.

Come on now. I know they are in there when it is hot or cold but they have heat I think and air too. But even if they didn't, they signed up for the job. AND they make a decent buck at it too. They make between $18 and $22 an hour. That's not to bad for sitting there and taking or giving money all day. AND they're government jobs so they probably have good insurance and benefits.

So maybe I have nothing to beef about. I kind of wonder that myself. But then I think about it a little and you know what? I don't have I-Pass. I have to go to the booths and give my 'real' money to them and pay twice as much for riding the toll as everyone else who has I-Pass. WTF? What was I thinking? I guess I read George Orwell's 1984 to young and it left a lasting impression on me. But putting that aside like I said I use the booths. So you know what? With out financially illiterate people like me, YOU WOULDN'T HAVE A JOB! If you hate your job, quit. Would it hurt you just to say 'thank you', 'your welcome' or even just a plain old 'hi' once in awhile? Especially when someone else greets you with the same?

Screw George Orwell, I need to get an I-Pass. (waves hi to Big Brother)