Sept. 23rd - Weekly Buy Nothing Day
I decided to take a break from it all today and left my wallet in my pocket. Apparantly, the cops in Chicago decided to take a break from spending money as well. I was on the bus to work (using a transit card I purchased a few days ago... no money spent here) when two officers in uniform boarded, greeted the driver and sat down. They didn't wave a transit card in front of the censor or fiddle with coins in the payment box. They just walked on.I have no problem with police officers getting free rides on the bus, but I can't help but feel the childhood pull of that adage we were all told. Cops aren't above the law, but they uphold the law. My only question is, do police officers in Chicago get free rides on public transportation because that is the law/exception, or because the bus drivers don't dare to say anything if they don't pay.
I'm just curious.
I just hope the officers were reflecting on all of the other things they may spend that $2.00 on instead. I hope you were thinking of all of your little purchases too. How many habitual purchases do you make a day? How many of them do you absolutely need? How many of them do you even want?
posted by Kevin | permalink |
2 Comments:
Hello from London! Don't get too excited-- I'm not typing with an accent-- I'm just a transplanted American. I saw the story about you in the Trib's e-mail today, and your blog is great! I actually forgot that eggs in the U.S. are always white; I'm so used to seeing brown I didn't give your Trader Joe's dozen a second thought.
In any case, as far as the policemen on the bus/free ride thing goes, I know that here in London, police get to ride on public transportation for free. My policeman friend said the idea is that they'd be on hand in case something were to happen, say, someone insulted someone else's teeth.
So that might be true in Chicago. Or, maybe, as is often the case in Chicago, someone is on the take.
Anyway, if you're ever killing time, and let's face it, that's what the internet is all about, my blog is at: http://marathonmum.blogspot.com.
Keep up the good work. I'm sorry I'll miss the party.
Transplanted American? Since when does London need an American transplant?
Thanks for reading Maureen! I appreciate it!
And yeah, teeth insults over here aren't at the level they seem to have reached across the pond... but perhaps that is due to the fact that we have so many police officers freely boarding busses as they please.
Prevention and first strike and all that. We're pretty good at that I hear.
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