Ah, the morning commute. You never know what you will get or how it will go. In many ways, the quality of your morning commute is highly dependant on other people. Consequently, so if your day at the office.
It seems natural for the morning commute to mimic the office since those commuting are heading to one. The morning commute can highlight some of the least desired qualities in co-workers. But it does a great job of demonstrating how one person’s actions can impact another.
Procrastinators
I often find myself behind a car going 10 miles slower than the speed limit. At times this makes it hard to get out from behind them because they are going just slow enough. When all of a sudden they need to get over, they floor it to move to another lane.
Anything to get ahead
Staying in a lane that is ending to get even one car ahead. I don’t know why so many lanes on the morning commute end or become exits, but they do. Despite multiple signs indicating the lane is ending or will become an exit, people stay in them until the last minute to get one car ahead. This last-minute switching results in many people having to slam their breaks. Or, disrupts the natural alternating merge that would have kept traffic moving.
Multi-tasking
Shaving, playing on their mobile phone, putting on make-up, eating big bowls of cereal, and even brushing their teeth. They may think they are good at doing all these things while driving, but everyone around them would disagree.
Bullying by blocking
Oncoming traffic is trying to merge but can’t because no one lets them over. Don’t even think about turning on your turn signal because they definitely won’t let you over then. It’s like an early warning sign they’ve been taught to ignore. They don’t want anyone to get in front of them. And if you are a semi, bus, or other big truck, forget about it you aren’t getting in.
Only focused on their task at hand
People are so focused on their agenda; they aren’t paying attention to what is happening around them. Their mission blinds them. They don’t see someone is trying to get over; they don’t see their lane is ending or turning into an exit. Because they are so focused on their tasks, they aren’t paying attention to their impact on others.
Artificial sense of urgency
We have a single lane on-ramp that gets quite busy during rush hour. Every day there are multiple accidents because people jump into that lane at the last minute, causing everyone to slam on their breaks. Every day I watch people get out of the lane (either behind me or in front of me) to drive up further and squeeze in. They do this because they feel they are too good to wait in line like everyone else.
Shaming people for making a mistake
It is unfortunate to breakdown, and even more so when it happens in a construction zone. When you breakdown in a construction zone, you can’t pull your car over to the side. This disabled vehicle creates a massive back-up because everyone will try to merge into lanes around them. The bad part is that nearly every single person will stare down the driver of the broken down car.
The morning commute is full of examples of what not to do at work. The short drive that takes a long time gives too many examples of negative qualities we often see in co-workers. The next time you find yourself wanting to lane hop or speed up so someone can’t get in front of you, I hope you reconsider.
Last updated on September 22nd, 2019 at 07:20 am
