TBIF

It’s a very Thank Buddha It’s Friday for one bus rider today.

I jump on the bus this morning to commute to work and I sit next to a young guy.  I’m guessing he was late 20’s or early 30’s.  I did not take notice of him (as we New Yorker’s sometimes have tunnel vision) until he leaned over to ask me a question.

“Do I smell like alcohol?”

An odd question to ask a stranger at 8:30am but I get it.

Me:  Um…yes.  (I detected the faint smell as soon as I sat.)

He replied back with a bit of a sigh, worried.  He was going to work and didn’t want to smell like booze.

Him:  My managers won’t be in so…

Me:  Well that’s good.  Just lay low.

Silence.

“Do I smell like Bloody Mary’s?”

Clearly this was the drink of the night.  (Or he was hoping to use the ‘I had a Bloody Mary at a business meeting this morning’ excuse.)

Me:  Uh – I don’t know.

Him:  I got 5 hours of sleep…

Me:  Well, just go home tonight.

Him:  Yeah, I’m going to…I have my birthday party tomorrow night.

He asked me if I had perfume or something in my bag…I said no….and he laughed saying something like, who asks that?  It was clear he was still a little inebriated from the night before and was trying to sober up, or appear sober, any way he could.  Even by wearing women’s perfume.

He yawned excessively – and the stale alcohol scent clung to him like an unripe grape on the vine.  He wore a cap and loafers without socks – clearly a last-minute wardrobe choice on the way to a long day at the office.

As he exited the bus, I wished him good luck.  He laughed – knowing he would need it.  And off he went – into the streets of NYC – in the hopes of making it through the day, unnoticed.

I felt his “pain” – I think I even commented that it happens – people stay out too late and go to work still feeling the effects of the prior evening.  He’ll get through it.

Funny what you will encounter in your day.  It’s a big whopping TBIF for that guy.

I should’ve recommended Gatorade. – BB