Either you get off now, or I call the police.”
I was standing in the aisle at 1:15 in the morning, soaked from people brushing past me with wet coats, while the conductor held my military transit pass between two fingers like it was something dirty.
“I told you, it expires at the end of the month,” I said. “It is still the end of the month.”
He tapped the date with one hard fingernail. “Not on this line. Different carrier, different rules.”
“That makes no sense.”
“It doesn’t have to make sense to you. It just has to get you off my train.”
A few passengers looked up, then looked away. Nobody wants to get involved when a uniform is involved unless they are sure which side to take.