Alert: There Are Crazy People On the Metro

Crazy people ride the Metro??? Yes. This is true.

I was on my way from Ballston to Navy Yard, to catch a Nats game earlier this week, and I overheard more than a few interesting conversations. When you write for a blog that thrives on Metro craziness, you tend to open your eyes and ears a little wider when you have the pleasure of being on board a Metro rail train. But I really don't think anyone on my side of the train car had a problem over hearing a crazy guy giving Metro directions to a tourist.

An older lady, who made the mistake of asking her husband if he knew where they had to get off to get to Navy Yard, sat down next to one of Metro's finest:

"You have to get off at the next stop...the Metro center one. And then you have to take the train just one stop to Chinatown. Then you have to transfer there to the Green line. It's what you gotta do. Man I fell asleep on this thing before...you ever do that? I haven't slept since Thursday. Metro Center is the next one. You have to get off there. You ever fall asleep on here?"

You can thank me later for excluding the rest of this crazy and very much one-sided conversation. And while I am impressed with his knowledge of Metro lines and stops, I am not impressed with the fact that L'Enfant seemingly does not exist on the Metro map in his mind. We were on the Orange line going east. This poor lady did not need to transfer twice just to make it to the Nats game. As you all know the Orange line will happily take you to the Green line transfer.

When the charismatic and presumably still tired, despite his frequent Metro naps, guy left at Metro Center, while still yelling to the woman that she needed to get off there and still telling her about his sleeping escapades on trains while walking off the train, the lady moved over to a seat behind me. The Eagle Scout in me, or just the fact that I am excitedly not crazy, made me turn around and give her -shockingly enough- correct directions on how to get to Navy Yard. She and her husband were pretty happy to have confirmed advice, but were still in obvious shock after their lovely encounter with a Metro crazy.

The moral of the story? Don't be crazy and do give correct directions on the Metro. If you hear bad ones, correct them. Oh...and don't yell at people about how you sleep on the Metro. Tact, people, tact!