Thursday, July 7, 2011

Sneaky Slug and the Mystery Lot

I was picking up slugs at the Pentagon this afternoon, and I already had one lady in my back seat who was going to RV so I told the next man that approached my window where we were headed. He then asked, "Old Keene Mill?" which I took as needing clarification as to where the slug lot I mentioned was--perhaps he didn't know the name of the lot he went to? So I said yep, and he got in the car. Two minutes later as we were getting on the HOV lane he said, "Actually, I get out a little bit earlier on Old Keene Mill road at Daventry."

Little background here. Daventry is a completely separate slug lot, much farther down Old Keene Mill closer to 395 than Rolling Valley. Oh, and basically nobody goes there. Especially in the afternoon from the Pentagon. I rarely see riders asking for a ride to Daventry in the afternoon at the Pentagon, but when I do see them they're always desperate and often end up getting dropped off in some random location.

Map of the Parkway with a star where the Sydenstricker Lot is located.
I looked at him and said, "Umm..I take the Parkway exit, I don't go down Old Keene Mill." He then proceeded to say, "Well that's why I said OKM for clarification." We resolved the situation by him offering to have me let him out on the side of the Parkway. "We both win!" He says. Oh yes, we both win. I now have to pull over, on the shoulder of the Parkway to let you out because you sneaked your way into my car without telling me where you were really going. Win, win, pal. 

You're probably thinking, why didn't I just go down Old Keene Mill, instead? 1. OKM traffic is seriously insane. So many traffic lights and I don't think any of them are synced. One time I sat at the first traffic light after exiting 395 for 10 minutes. In that time, I can be all the way down the Parkway and at the slug lot. So yeah, I just stick with the Parkway.

By taking the Parkway I can also drop slugs off at either the Rolling Valley or Sydenstricker lot, because Sydenstricker is right off the Parkway, and it's just faster to get to Rolling Valley that way. So when people walk up to my car at the Pentagon, I tell them I can go to either, or if there's a line of people when I show up I'll ask where the first two people in line are going because it's really kind of sporadic as to which lot has more drivers on a given day. (RV is actually a little bit out of the way because of a light I have to sit at exiting the lot, and it's a couple streets past my house, but I feel their pain having been an RV slug before...)

Back to the real story. 2. Even if I had conceded and gone down OKM so as to drop him off on my way, it's still hard to pull over where Daventry is and get back into traffic because you kind of just pull over into a compact bus lane. So it's somewhat rude to jump into someone's car without letting them know you aren't actually going to the slug lot that they mentioned. Work that stuff out before you get in the car. Sneaky, sneaky Daventry-man. And 3. I had a softball game to get to so I couldn't really spare the time to go out of my normal way, since I was already a little behind schedule, too.

As soon as he got out of the car, the lady in the back seat (who happened to ride with me in the morning, as well--I always find it humorous when that happens) and I vented about how that had been not only rude by dangerous to ask me to do that. Then she said, "Well, remember him for next time so you don't pick him up." Done and Done. Good bye, Mr. Sneaky Daventry Slug.

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