Meet Metrocard Millie

Welcome to the 6^th floor.

Today's contributors are: Ann, Sara, Billy and Scott.

Subject: Metrocard Millie

“Ugh! Gimme a quad espresso Scott.” Sara says at the register as she enters Starbucks.

“Sure Sara. Ann and Billy are over there.” Scott gestures to the corner. “I’ll bring it over for you.”

“Hey Sara! Didn’t think you were coming. What’s up?”

“Oh, you know. The usual; the MTA sucks.”

“Except the drivers.”

“You at least..”

“Bitching about the stupid celebrity announcements again?”

“Al Roker needs to shut the hell up.”

“Nah, just annoyed that my card didn’t seem to read right this morning, and then it only had 15 cents left on it. What am I supposed to do with 15 cents?”

“Give it Millie.” Scott says, as he brings over Sara’s espresso.

“Er..who is Millie?”

“You haven’t named your nipples again have you Scott? Because I’m not sure how I’d give your nipple a metrocard.”

“No. Millie’s a homeless person that comes in here occasionally. She walks around to all the subway stations and takes the discarded Metrocards hoping to find those nickels and dimes left on them. Then she takes a big pile of ‘em somewhere and gets them converted into cash.”

“Wow, they let her do that? I’d think they laugh at her.”

“I think she must be friendly with someone somewhere, or maybe they take pity on her. I don’t know. But she usually comes in here when she has a good day and gets a hot chocolate.”

“Well good for her. Reclaiming the probably millions of dollars the MTA saves by people discarding these.” Sara says, waving her 15cent metrocard at Scott.

“I asked her what the best stations were, but she wouldn’t tell me. Trade secret I guess.”

“Probably the PATH train stations. Especially 33^rd street.”

“Yeah. PATH fare is 25cents cheaper. Anytime anyone has to hop over to Jersey once they tend to end up with an extraneous dollar on their card or something.”

“I still have an odd-dollar amount from when we went to the Devils game in Newark. I’m hoping to go to another game and even it out though.”

“Well back to work guys. We should go get a beer or something tonight. I haven’t had one all week.”

“I had one already today.”

“Billy..it’s like 10am!”

“And I had one when I got home from work last night at 1am. So there.”

Billy sticks out his tongue at Ann.

“But I could always use another!”

Sara's New Job

Welcome to the 6^th floor.

Today's contributors are: Ann, Sara, Frank and Scott.

Subject: Sara's New Job

Sara strolls in around seven o'clock and plops on the couch, gesturing to Frank and then to the fridge.

“So how was your first day of work Sara?”

Frank grabs two beers from the fridge, opens them and hands one to Sara.

“Could've gone better.” Sara says, after a long pull from the beer bottle.

“The people nice?”

“Too early to tell. They seem nice enough. Jersey City is a freaking dump though.”

“Didn't we tell you that Jersey sucked?”

“North Jersey is nice. I don't think I've been to Jersey City though. Not nice huh?”

“Nope. Path train isn't too bad though. The seats are more uncomfortable, but there are much less people on it than the subway.”

“Reverse commute I guess. That's nice at least.”

“They had trouble setting up some of my accounts, so I wasn't even able to do much. A lot of reading.”

“Weren't prepared for you? But you accepted like three weeks ago!”

“I know. Hopefully not a sign of things to come.”

“It'll probably get better when you settle in.”

“Speaking of settling in, they don't have a space for me yet. My desk is literally in the kitchen, with four other people.”

“In the kitchen? That's classic. I always knew a woman's place was in the kitchen..”

“At least you're not far from your precious coffee beans.”

“I wish I was farther! You know how hard it is to take a break to get coffee when the machine's practically on your desk?!”

“Oooh..that sucks. And you don't smoke, so you can't even take a smoke break.”

“Take your coffee breaks by leaving and getting Starbucks.”

“Actually, there is no Starbucks in Journal Square. There is a Dunkin' Donuts, but no Starbucks. It's a horrible place.”

“Who knows, maybe you'll find something better elsewhere. At least you have insurance right?”

“Yeah, I will in two months. And I actually get transportation reimbursement which is cool.”

“That is pretty nifty. Another beer?”

“Definitely. Bring one for Scott too, I saw him eying mine when he walked in.”

“I just love your bottles.”

“That doesn't even make any sense.”

“You might as well have one too Ann.” Frank says, passing out beer.

“Terrific. Tuesday night, Friday night. It's always time for beer right?”

“It's always happy hour somewhere in the world. Cheers!” Scott raises his beer bottle, and the others clink theirs to his.