Election Night Chaos

Election Night Chaos, originally uploaded by aeromat.

Train service delayed and people are not happy. This is the mess I’m currently stuck in. Polls close in 2.75 hours. I better make it. Update later.

UPDATED 7:30 p.m.: The picture you see above is not exactly an accurate representation of what was going on at the Green Line’s Avalon/I-105 station. What was going on was that the trains from El Segundo (where I work) were only going as far as the Avalon/I-105 Station. During their trip the had to switch tracks so they ended up on the opposite side of the platform. Those trains then went west back to El Segundo while those of us waiting to go east to Norwalk had to sit and wait.

I stood there for nearly an hour waiting for a train that wasn’t so packed, but there was no such luck. Each one was worse than the last since they had make their usual stops for passengers. By now people were getting antsy and trains were coming at the amazingly slow rate of every 15 minutes, which is why I say the picture isn’t exactly accurate. I took it well before things got ugly.

At 6 p.m. I was finally able to get on a train to go one measly stop to the Blue Line transfer point to Long Beach. During my exit I accidentally stepped on the back of a woman’s shoe. I touched her arm and politely apologized for the incident and considering the crowd of people exiting, pushing and shoving, I’m surprised something like this wasn’t happening more often. It was that bad.

After she stood in front of me adjusting her shoe (leaving me with nowhere to go), she threw a dirty look at me and mumbled something.

“I said I was sorry,” was my only reply. What more could I do? But she continued her verbal assault.

“Oh, get over yourself already,” I said as I waved off her nonsensical remarks and kept walking. I thought shit, here we are on the eve of making Election Night history and instead of taking pride in that, this woman has become obsessed with the fact that I tripped on her shoe. She obviously has deeper issues that I care not to deal with.

But in the end, I safely made it to my polling place and did my duty.

God bless America, and congratulations to our President-elect, Barack Obama.