# I am your better. Do as I say. **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [July 27, 2010, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-your-better-do-as-i-say/548184 "2010-07-27T14:31:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 15
**Author:** ![Chessic\_Sense](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7c8e57/32.png) [@Chessic\_Sense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chessic_Sense)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2010, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-your-better-do-as-i-say/548184/281 "2010-08-04T23:08:07Z")
What, this thread is back? Man. You know how hard it was to stay mad for the few days this thread was up? Hang on. Let me put on my asshole face again… > [@Shot\_From\_Guns](#): > > So, **Chessic** , here’s what I don’t get. > > You’re a blindingly smart, successful guy. You take the same train to and from work every day–your house doesn’t move around, nor does your office. And yet, you can’t do simple math to figure out ahead of time how much money you need to have on that temporary card? 1. I don’t just take it to and from work. I go other places, too, like to happy hours or Nats games. So I have no idea how many trips it’ll be. 2. It doesn’t tell you how much is left on the card like it does with the SmarTrip card. So you just have to estimate or keep meticulous tabs on it. 3. I didn’t know how much you have to have to enter the system. Apparently, it’s $1.30 or $1.40, I forget. I had $1.10. > [@Lute Skywatcher](#): > > Did **Chessic** get that replacement SmarTrip yet? Pfsh. No. It’s been two+ weeks, man! Nothing! I finally called them today and they’re like “Oh, yeah, there’s a backlog.” Then she told me I can keep waiting or just go buy a new card and they’ll transfer the balance. Awesome. Looks like I’ll just pay the $5, get a new one from CVS, and hope that they transfer the balance smoothly. I’m told that can be a nightmare, too. ---
**Author:** ![Olentzero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/90ced4/32.png) [@Olentzero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Olentzero)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2010, 5:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-your-better-do-as-i-say/548184/282 "2010-08-05T05:00:17Z")
> [@Chessic\_Sense](#): > > 1. I don’t just take it to and from work. I go other places, too, like to happy hours or Nats games. So I have no idea how many trips it’ll be. > 2. It doesn’t tell you how much is left on the card like it does with the SmarTrip card. So you just have to estimate or keep meticulous tabs on it. > 3. I didn’t know how much you have to have to enter the system. Apparently, it’s $1.30 or $1.40, I forget. I had $1.10. And how, exactly, did your failure to keep accurate track of your Metro card entitle you to jump the turnstile? I fail to see how impatience and a casual disregard for the details qualifies you as anyone’s social better. A person truly conscious of his/her own self-worth would have sucked it up in line, understood how a temporary lapse in competence led to the situation, and taken steps to make sure such a thing didn’t happen again instead of stewing in a poorly-concocted broth of self-righteous indignation and waiting long enough to spew misdirected venom on a message board against someone doing their job, a/k/a not letting a turnstile jumper off the hook. TLDR for impatient fuckwits like you: You fucked up and got called on it. Suck it up, princess. ---
**Author:** ![Sailboat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sailboat/32/461_2.png) [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2010, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-your-better-do-as-i-say/548184/283 "2010-08-05T13:51:42Z")
> [@Chessic\_Sense](#): > > Note that all of those attributes come about by hard work, determination, and skill. You’re not born a governor. Classic mistake. All of those attributes _can_ be acquired by hard work, determination, and skill. They are also routinely handed out to children of the fortunate. Even governorships (Senate seats, “attorney generalships,” what have you). Just look at some of the dynastic families like the Bushes, Kennedys, Rockefellers, and so on. Degrees too – I’ve heard of people who got easy medical degrees at Caribbean party schools because they had enough money to go to Caribbean party schools. Privileged people (and their inheriting children) always profess to believe that superior talent got them there, and never admit that in some cases they were there at birth, and in some cases, only coasted in on a “gentleman’s C.” ---
**Author:** ![Shot\_From\_Guns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ccd318/32.png) [@Shot\_From\_Guns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shot_From_Guns)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2010, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-your-better-do-as-i-say/548184/284 "2010-08-05T15:29:10Z")
> [@Chessic\_Sense](#): > > 1. I don’t just take it to and from work. I go other places, too, like to happy hours or Nats games. So I have no idea how many trips it’ll be. > 2. It doesn’t tell you how much is left on the card like it does with the SmarTrip card. So you just have to estimate or keep meticulous tabs on it. > 3. I didn’t know how much you have to have to enter the system. Apparently, it’s $1.30 or $1.40, I forget. I had $1.10. All of these are things you could have and should have accounted for. Yeah, it blows, but it’s still \*your problem \*to keep track of it. 1. You could have maintained two cards–one with X days worth of work fares on it, and one with just a chunk of cash for other outings. That way, you would always be certain of how many round-trip work fares you had. 2. You could have kept track of how much money you’d spent on the card you did get. 3. You could have checked on the entry fee, since you should have known it would be relevant information. This is all on you, ol’ buddy ol’ pal. Rather than wait in line because you neglected to have enough money on your temp card to pay the fare, you \*chose \*to circumvent the way the system tracks fares. At your destination, the employee you spoke to had \*no way of knowing \*where you actually got on the train, but after giving you an entirely appropriate lecture on how you’d fucked up, let you go anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Olentzero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/90ced4/32.png) [@Olentzero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Olentzero)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2010, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-your-better-do-as-i-say/548184/285 "2010-08-05T15:43:11Z")
I just noticed something here that is in painful need of further calling out. > [@Chessic\_Sense](#): > > 1. It doesn’t tell you how much is left on the card like it does with the SmarTrip card. If I read the OP correctly, you said you’d been using paper cards for Metro rides. Unless things have changed greatly since I left DC three years ago, this is absolutely not the case. The amount is printed on the card each time you go through the exit gate in a neat little column of figures. Doesn’t take much effort to glance at the damn thing. On to the next item: > [@](#): > > _3. I didn’t know how much you have to have to enter the system. Apparently, it’s $1.30 or $1.40, I forget. I had $1.10._ If your first premise is accepted as true (even if the DC Teeming Millions can probably back me up that it’s not), _how did you know how much you had on the ticket_? If it’s not printed on the ticket, you obviously kept meticulous tabs on the amount, thereby pretty much rendering your whole argument moot. If you knew how much was on the ticket, you knew you needed to add money to it - but you’re so goddamned IMPORTANT and BETTER than the rest of us that the rules don’t apply to you. So not only did you act like a jackass, you _ **knew** _ you were doing so - which is why you shut up and took the mild reaming from Jamal like the chickenshit you are and came on here to make yourself look like the put-upon victim of alleged reverse racism. I’m sorry, man. No fucking sympathy. In fact, active _ **antipathy** _ because it’s pretty clear you meant to act like a fuckwad throughout this whole situation. ---
**Author:** ![Fuji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a9a28c/32.png) [@Fuji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fuji)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2010, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-your-better-do-as-i-say/548184/286 "2010-08-05T16:42:59Z")
> [@Olentzero](#): > > I’m sorry, man. No fucking sympathy. In fact, active _antipathy_ because it’s pretty clear you meant to **act** like a fuckwad throughout this whole situation. Have some sympathy for the poor guy. Acting is all he can do. ---
**Author:** ![Rhythmdvl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/85f322/32.png) [@Rhythmdvl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhythmdvl)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2010, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-your-better-do-as-i-say/548184/287 "2010-08-26T15:12:38Z")
Chessic’s gonna have a bad week: [D.C. Metro won’t let SmarTrip users leave with insufficient fare](http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/08/25/AR2010082506840.html?hpid=topnews) ---
**Author:** ![Shot\_From\_Guns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ccd318/32.png) [@Shot\_From\_Guns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shot_From_Guns)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2010, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-your-better-do-as-i-say/548184/288 "2010-08-26T15:51:39Z")
Different issue. \*\*Chessic \*\*tried to \*enter \*with insufficient fare and then pay the balance at the exit, despite having no proof of how much he owed. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2010, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-your-better-do-as-i-say/548184/289 "2010-08-26T16:09:40Z")
> [@Rhythmdvl](#): > > Chessic’s gonna have a bad week: > > [D.C. Metro won’t let SmarTrip users leave with insufficient fare](http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/08/25/AR2010082506840.html?hpid=topnews) Wives are gonna have to stock up on sandwiches. ---
**Author:** ![villa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/bc79bd/32.png) [@villa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/villa)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2010, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-your-better-do-as-i-say/548184/290 "2010-08-26T16:40:26Z")
> [@Shot\_From\_Guns](#): > > Different issue. \*\*Chessic \*\*tried to \*enter \*with insufficient fare and then pay the balance at the exit, despite having no proof of how much he owed. How dare you suggest a white man would lie about something as mundane as how much he owed to the Metro. ---
**Author:** ![Shot\_From\_Guns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ccd318/32.png) [@Shot\_From\_Guns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shot_From_Guns)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2010, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-your-better-do-as-i-say/548184/291 "2010-08-26T17:08:12Z")
True. Everyone knows Important White Men in Business Suits only lie about \*important \*things. ---
**Author:** ![Enderw24](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ba9def/32.png) [@Enderw24](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enderw24)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2010, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-your-better-do-as-i-say/548184/292 "2010-08-26T17:13:15Z")
> [@runner pat](#): > > > [@Rhythmdvl](#): > > > > Chessic’s gonna have a bad week: > > > > [D.C. Metro won’t let SmarTrip users leave with insufficient fare](http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/08/25/AR2010082506840.html?hpid=topnews) > > Wives are gonna have to stock up on sandwiches. Knuckle? ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2010, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-your-better-do-as-i-say/548184/293 "2010-08-26T17:18:26Z")
> [@runner pat](#): > > Wives are gonna have to stock up on sandwiches. Don’t worry, I got it. ---
**Author:** ![Moonlitherial](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4bbf92/32.png) [@Moonlitherial](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moonlitherial)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2010, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-your-better-do-as-i-say/548184/294 "2010-08-26T17:35:08Z")
> [@](#): > > Dianette Wilson, 48, of the District said she learned a lesson from the service industry that Metro apparently hasn’t. “It’s all about doing something for a customer so they’ll come back a second time.” Lesson the Metro has learned that Dianette Wilson hasn’t - When there are no viable options you can do whatever you want to your customers. ---
**Author:** ![villa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/bc79bd/32.png) [@villa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/villa)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2010, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-your-better-do-as-i-say/548184/295 "2010-08-26T17:41:11Z")
> [@Moonlitherial](#): > > Lesson the Metro has learned that Dianette Wilson hasn’t - When there are no viable options you can do whatever you want to your customers. Except the Metro is overall a pretty damned good system, with polite and helpful staff in general. It’s just been subsidized so much for so long that people get a bit of a shock if the prices have to go up. ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2010, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-your-better-do-as-i-say/548184/296 "2010-08-26T19:27:18Z")
> [@Telemark](#): > > > [@runner pat](#): > > > > Wives are gonna have to stock up on sandwiches. > > Don’t worry, I got it. But will **chessic** ever return? ---
**Author:** ![elninost0rm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ed655f/32.png) [@elninost0rm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elninost0rm)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2010, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-your-better-do-as-i-say/548184/297 "2010-08-26T19:38:12Z")
What a glorious thread featuring one of the biggest douchers I’ve ever seen. Bravo, bravo. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2010, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-your-better-do-as-i-say/548184/298 "2010-08-26T19:38:12Z")
Has anybody seen the [metro instructions for the Glenn Beck rally](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/08/23/glenn-beck-rally-attendee_n_691578.html)? > [@](#): > > If you are on the subway stay on the Red line between Union Station and Shady Grove, Maryland. If you are on the Blue or Orange line do not go past Eastern Market (Capitol Hill) toward the Potomac Avenue stop and beyond; stay in NW DC and points in Virginia. Do not use the Green line or the Yellow line. These rules are even more important at night. There is of course nothing wrong with many other areas; but you don’t know where you are, so you should not explore them. ---
**Author:** ![villa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/bc79bd/32.png) [@villa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/villa)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2010, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-your-better-do-as-i-say/548184/299 "2010-08-26T19:55:10Z")
There are similar instructions for where to go to eat and walk around. Poor little flowers. I think we should install British 1940’s style invasion defense tactics, such as removing all street signs. If you live here it is easy enough to get around without them (assuming the ability to count and a knowledge of the alphabet, so another set of advantages we have over the teabaggers). Then when they ask directions we can send them to “dangerous” areas where they might see black folk and die of shock. ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2010, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-your-better-do-as-i-say/548184/300 "2010-08-26T20:02:59Z")
> [@villa](#): > > Then when they ask directions we can send them to “dangerous” areas where they might see black folk and die of shock. Ah. The White House. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-your-better-do-as-i-say/548184.md?page=14) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-your-better-do-as-i-say/548184.md?page=16)