Afternoon Baseball

So I was traveling back to my beloved Connecticut hometown yesterday via Amtrak, as they are expensive but a lot faster and easier option from Baltimore than driving would be. I get on the train and turn left, as there are a few cars in that direction. I get a few feet in, see the crowd of people, and decide, hey, let's turn around. The guy behind me concurs, and we march forward. The very next car, however, also has a crowd standing around, with this girl (she could have been 19, she could have been 25, it's tough to tell) saying, this is a Business Class car, so we can't be here. We, as in, the 10-12 people standing there. Even though there's like 25 empty seats, Business Class is different. Very well. So there's nowhere to go now on this train, this train that's not supposed to even be completely sold out until about Philadelphia.

So I stood in the middle of the aisle until Philadelphia about 90 minutes later. Except that I didn't. A conductor shows up, and is like, there's no seats behind me, but tons up ahead. She's like, "But those are Business Class!" He's clearly not happy that this girl is challenging his authority -- especially since all of us now are realizing that her information was as reliable as uranium in Niger -- and marches forward, discovers all those seats, and is like, What the hell?
Turns out the car does say Business Class on the outside, but she never bothered to ask a conductor or anyone actually sitting in the section. Luckily, the conductor realized that she was nuts, and the 20 of us managed to sit down.

But it doesn't end there. She's got one of those monster suitcases, the ones that are taller than a midget and take up the whole aisle. That's just sitting there, because she doesn't understand that she can move somebody's hat in order to clear some room on the overhead shelf. The conductor is even confused at this point, either because he didn't speak perfect English or because he could believe what was wrong with this lady. Luckily, a man was available, although not myself. It was such a drama at this point that I wanted to see how it would end. But that guy moved the hat over about six inches, and suddenly the luggage fit. Crisis averted. Train arrived home on time, and my self-esteem was much buoyed by witnessing those around me.