TBIF
It’s a very Thank Buddha It’s Friday for one bus rider today.
I jump on the bus this morning to commute to work and I sit next to a young guy. I’m guessing he was late 20’s or early 30’s. I did not take notice of him (as we New Yorker’s sometimes have tunnel vision) until he leaned over to ask me a question.
“Do I smell like alcohol?”
An odd question to ask a stranger at 8:30am but I get it.
Me: Um…yes. (I detected the faint smell as soon as I sat.)
He replied back with a bit of a sigh, worried. He was going to work and didn’t want to smell like booze.
Him: My managers won’t be in so…
Me: Well that’s good. Just lay low.
Silence.
“Do I smell like Bloody Mary’s?”
Clearly this was the drink of the night. (Or he was hoping to use the ‘I had a Bloody Mary at a business meeting this morning’ excuse.)
Me: Uh – I don’t know.
Him: I got 5 hours of sleep…
Me: Well, just go home tonight.
Him: Yeah, I’m going to…I have my birthday party tomorrow night.
He asked me if I had perfume or something in my bag…I said no….and he laughed saying something like, who asks that? It was clear he was still a little inebriated from the night before and was trying to sober up, or appear sober, any way he could. Even by wearing women’s perfume.
He yawned excessively – and the stale alcohol scent clung to him like an unripe grape on the vine. He wore a cap and loafers without socks – clearly a last-minute wardrobe choice on the way to a long day at the office.
As he exited the bus, I wished him good luck. He laughed – knowing he would need it. And off he went – into the streets of NYC – in the hopes of making it through the day, unnoticed.
I felt his “pain” – I think I even commented that it happens – people stay out too late and go to work still feeling the effects of the prior evening. He’ll get through it.
Funny what you will encounter in your day. It’s a big whopping TBIF for that guy.
I should’ve recommended Gatorade. – BB