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Conference lemmings
May. 16th, 2007 01:18 pmFoot traffic in Manhattan is a special kind of traffic. People on their feetsies and in motion don't expect to have to stop for anything except a red light. Once you get to know a neighborhood or a particular street, even red lights might not deter your forward motion.
This morning getting off the subway, my feet were practically flying across the ground for the 300 yards to my office building. But in front of the Hilton Hotel two buildings away, a crowd of men was moving slowly. Some of the men were kind of handsome and there were definitely some beautiful people the mix. It hit me that they all had same-colored cloth necklaces with the clasp in the back sort of hiding under the collar. There were no women in the entire group and they were all walking together, almost in unison, and much slower than the rest of the foot traffic. Everyone behind them and around them was heading to work, including me.
That group of conference lemmings was creating insurmountable blockage along the sidewalk due to the never-ending construction zone we all pass by every day. The blockage was even thicker once we passed the construction zone, however, because one or two of the lemmings noticed the stop light on the block in front of my building. What they didn't notice or know was there is no traffic to stop with that stop light. The entire upper portion of that street is, in fact, also a construction zone, but no one looked up the street. Conference badge around their necks, anticipation in their eye, and conversation on their tongue, not one of the lemmings noticed all the other people working in the neighborhood passing them by and defying the stop light at the corner that had stopped them. I was so shocked at the whole scene, that I mentioned to the conference crowd, "By the way, you don't have to stop for that light: There's construction!" No one listened and they all kept talking about conference topics. It didn't really phase me, though, and the NY foot traffic walked passed the lemmings and we all disappeared into our office buildings.
This morning getting off the subway, my feet were practically flying across the ground for the 300 yards to my office building. But in front of the Hilton Hotel two buildings away, a crowd of men was moving slowly. Some of the men were kind of handsome and there were definitely some beautiful people the mix. It hit me that they all had same-colored cloth necklaces with the clasp in the back sort of hiding under the collar. There were no women in the entire group and they were all walking together, almost in unison, and much slower than the rest of the foot traffic. Everyone behind them and around them was heading to work, including me.
That group of conference lemmings was creating insurmountable blockage along the sidewalk due to the never-ending construction zone we all pass by every day. The blockage was even thicker once we passed the construction zone, however, because one or two of the lemmings noticed the stop light on the block in front of my building. What they didn't notice or know was there is no traffic to stop with that stop light. The entire upper portion of that street is, in fact, also a construction zone, but no one looked up the street. Conference badge around their necks, anticipation in their eye, and conversation on their tongue, not one of the lemmings noticed all the other people working in the neighborhood passing them by and defying the stop light at the corner that had stopped them. I was so shocked at the whole scene, that I mentioned to the conference crowd, "By the way, you don't have to stop for that light: There's construction!" No one listened and they all kept talking about conference topics. It didn't really phase me, though, and the NY foot traffic walked passed the lemmings and we all disappeared into our office buildings.
