Cutting in Line

My friend S who I have mentioned before also slugs into work, and happens to work with me as well. She told me about one of her mornings at the slug lot last week and it brings up another understood rule of slugging--one that's very tempting to break sometimes, especially on rainy days, and I admit I've broken a couple of times, too.

As she was walking up to her lot last week, a driver in a taxi cab* asked her where she was going. She said, "Over there," and pointed to the slug line. I laughed at her pleasant response to the man, as her tone clearly came across as 'do not disturb.' He clarified asking her where in DC she was headed, and she told him. He said he'd take her, and here's what's wrong with the situation: He wasn't behind the other drivers waiting his turn to pick up the riders in line, he was basically scavenging the lot for riders arriving at the lot to pick them up before they got to the line. In short, he was cutting. This really takes us back to our 2nd grade selves waiting in line for the water fountain after recess, I know. But slugging is a very polite system in theory and people that do this are often scoffed at by their fellow sluggers.

I've been on both sides of it. When you're standing there in line and waiting for cars to come it's very frustrating when you see a car swing around and pick up people walking to the slug line. Unless it's an organized carpool, it usually makes the people in line shake their heads or sigh, as they're left to wait for more cars as the people that just arrived at the lot get a ride immediately. There is another rule that says if the driver knows someone in line and yells out their name to see if they want to get in, they can get in. I haven't seen this happen at the lot I go to now, but I have seen it once or twice elsewhere. But that's different from skimming the parking lot to catch riders before they get to the line. In my experience though, even when I see drivers who know someone in line, they still follow the general protocol and take the first 2 or 3 riders, and then just say hello to their friend as they pass them.

When I used to go to a different lot in the morning, I had to walk alongside part of a neighborhood road to get to the lot, since the lot had minimal parking spots. There was one lady who lived in one of the houses nearby, who would drive around and ask where people were headed as they walked towards the lot. I tried to decline her request at first, because I knew it wasn't really fair to the people in line. The next time she asked I got in and felt kind of guilty as we drove past the lot and there were people waiting. I saw her pretty frequently, and one time she said she'd just give me a ride to the lot and if there were no cars I could ride with her. I ended up getting out of her car because the line of cars was so long when we pulled up. It got to the point though where we knew each other and if she had other people with her I didn't feel so bad about going with her. I only rode with her a couple more times, but that's actually how I met my first "slugging friend" who ironically drops her son off at my boyfriend's mother's house for daycare. Small world.

With all the variables of slugging protocol, I'd say in general there's certainly riders who have no remorse about breaking the understood rule that driver's shouldn't scoop up slugs without getting in line and will get right in without looking back. There's also occasions where some will take the opportunity when it's handed to them, but I think the majority of slugs would turn down a ride from a random driver offered in this manner out of courtesy to the other slugs and drivers. Maybe that's me being naive, but from what I've experienced, at least at the lot I go to in the morning, is that slugs have a certain courtesy for other slugs. The afternoon line is a whole different story...

*Taxi cabs only have to have one other person in their car to use the HOV lane.