Kyle and his friend, whose evening was saved by some very nice people.
On a Sunday evening my date and I were headed to the Van Ness station from the Mission via the J after spending some time in Dolores Park. The train came on time and the ride was as smooth as you can hope for from a Muni ride.
We arrived at Van Ness station and offboarded onto the platform. We had just barely climbed the top of the stairs to the mezzanine level when my date exclaimed “Oh God! My purse!” She had left her purse on the train.
Surely her cash and belongings were now lost in the clutches of the city forever, to be divvied up and forgotten about. I quickly made my way to the station operator booth and told the operator, “She left her purse on the last inbound J train!”
The operator quickly picked up his phone and called the train, told them the situation, nodded his head and put down the receiver. “They have it, wait downstairs on the outbound platform and look for train 1502, should be here in 20 or so minutes, happy holidays!” he said with a warm smile.
We thanked him and made our way to the platform to wait. When train 1502 rolled in, I entered the front car and was greeted by a friendly operator who was laughing and telling us how lucky we were and wishing us well.
It was all a pleasant and smooth experience, the kind you don’t usually expect from a Muni ride, especially when you are starting with a bad situation. I wrote a compliment on the SFMTA website for all the operators involved in the ordeal. Happy Holidays and wish you all the same fortunes on your commute.
Or at least let’s hope we can turn a small misfortune around like Kyle did. Hey, what’s your Muni diary today?
