Monday, October 6, 2008

Punked by Mao on four to six wheels.


So, I'm in Washington D.C, visiting Max. I just felt that I needed a break from the city and I don't have any shoots planned for a little while. That being said, I thought of one on the bus today that is going to be fucking amazing. It might take a while before I actually shoot it, but don't worry, it's coming.

Now to the main point of this post: Hilarious business concepts. I decided to take the famous(infamous?) Chinatown buses down here, paying a mere 35 dollars round-trip. Now, if you go on the bus-company's website, there is a spectacular amount of buses going to Washington D.C daily. There's one about every half-hour or so. Before boarding the bus, I seriously questioned how that can be profitable. I mean, how many people need to get from NYC to Washington D.C at 11.00 AM on a Monday? The people on the bus were hardly commuters, since the trips takes like 4.5 hours and what kind of job requires you to depart at 11.00 AM and arrive at 3.30 PM? So, how does the bus company make this work? I'll tell you.

I bought a ticket for the 11.00 bus, but arrived and boarded the bus early, mainly because I am a pussy. I must say, I was very surprised when the bus instantly went on its way at 10.30, half an hour too early. Naturally, my first thought was: "Poor guys who thought arriving 20 minutes prior to departure would be enough." The only feeling within me stronger than my sympathy for those people, was the relief of knowing that at least I would be arriving 30 minutes early. Let's face it, I don't even know them.

So the bus jetted off, but after about 20 minutes of listening to music(I'm not saying what I was listening too, you'll judge), I couldn't help but notice that my surroundings were still covered in markings resembling some sort of calligraphy. Another ten minutes later, the bus made a sharp right turn, and we were right back when we started. Hence, the bus departing at 10.30 from 88 E Broadway had just become the 11.00 bus as well. And it doesn't end there. You see, the 11.00 bus took off again, simply to evolve into an 11.15(ish) bus. All of a sudden, instead of being 30 minutes early, I was 15 minutes late. People around me had been stirring nervously for about 45 minutes at that point, but for me, it was just too hilarious to get angry. Not only that, but who was I supposed to complain to? It's not like the driver spoke English.

You have to admit, doing something like that to paying customers would require balls the size of...really big balls. In essence, my day consisted of me and about 45 unsuspecting voyagers of the 11.00 bus, basically getting fucked. Right in the ear.

Oh, and I really feel like doing another spontaneous animal series, like the one I did on Max's cats at like 6.00 AM when I got bored of working. It was really funny seeing how they hated the camera at first, and then kind of dug the attention.

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