Tell me about your worst ever journey to work in the morning?

Question

I had a really bad one today, attempting to use London transport, and arriving half an hour late. The only thing that will cheer me up right now are similar stories from other people!

Answer 1

London, July 7th 2005.

Nuff said.

Answer 2

If you know anything about traffic in Cairo, you can imagine how stressful it can be to get to your destination on time and in a reasonable if not a good mood! I'm always telling my students how important it is to be punctual so I make sure that I lead by example and arrive some time before my lecture. To achieve this, I have to leave home about an hour and a half before the time of my lecture, though the trip to the university should take about 20 minutes only if the traffic wasn't so awful. One day, however, it seemed that all traffic had come to a complete standstill. I was stuck in the same place for about 45 minutes and was really starting to worry about being late, and worrying even more that I needed the bathroom! It turned out that there had been an accident ahead and the car responsible was blocking the road. My bladder was really starting to complain, and my stomach was in knots because I had never been late for anything before in my life. When everything finally got sorted out and I arrived at work, I made a quick dash for the bathroom with minutes to spare before I wet my pants! Having gotten that out of the way, I finally made my way to my class only to find it empty even though I was exactly on time. It turned out that the schedule had changed and that the jerk responsible for that had not even bothered to notify me! But that is a whole other story.....

Answer 3

I had a real jerk for a supervisor. It was a morning meeting that meant nothing, just to tell us how cold it was outside, well I know, it was 20 below and working outside all day I didn't need to get up 2 hours early just to drive nearly 36 miles for this idiot to tell me how cold it was, let me add he was in a heated building all day. Well, the weather got real bad and it was expressway driving most of the way and there were 3 accidents that morning on my way to work, one involving a rescue unit to help the ones that were involved in the accidents before it. I was late, a half hour late and missed the stupid meeting and that creep wrote me up for it. He said it didn't matter, I should have gotten up 3 hours early if that is what it took get to the meeting on time. That was so wrong since I worked 12 -14 hours a day behind the wheel of these large trucks and being fatigued and sleepy was unsafe and illegal.
So glad I am not there anymore. I miss the job itself, but not the bull that came with it. Oh by the way, I tried to call the Depot and tell this butt that I was not going to make it because of the accidents and the weather suddenly turned off from the lake but could not get through on my cell phone. That was one of my worst journey's ever to work. I had a few of them.

Answer 4

I live 10 minutes from where I work. A truck had broken down on the highway and the traffic wass banked up for about 5 kilometres. I eventually turned off and went a differant way. Unfortunately so did a thousand other people. I'd only had my car 2 days, and it was a hilly area. I stalled the car about 4 or 5 times, because I wasn't used to driving it. I finally got back on to the highway, only to find out there had also been an accident. I arrived at work 1hr and 10 minutes late, and 1hr and 40 minutes after I left home, busting for a wee!

Answer 5

I was once stuck in a traffic jam on the M42 for 4 hours, after an accident up ahead. I was desperate for a wee and eventually had to 'go' behind a little bridge by the hard shoulder (to the amusement of assorted lorry drivers). I arrived at work at about midday. Not a great start to the day!

Answer 6

It was today.
Yesterday I was at a workshop in the vicinity of the Haag, the Netherlands. It ended yesterday and I was happy that I can go home early because I had been told to plan today as well. I had a ticket for the night train to Munich and imagined traveling to Amsterdam by train, getting a sleeping car place there, getting into the night train and waking up near home and going to work right from the station.
When I got to Amsterdam Centraal and wanted to buy my sleeping car reservation, I was told to go to Utrecht because my train wouldn't start in Amsterdam. After endless inquiries of overstressed staff I heard that there was an accident and a track is blocked, so the train starts in Utrecht (but the information signs all said the train will depart). I had to change 3 regional trains to get to Utrecht (the first of them being actually the train I used to travel from the Haag to Amsterdam, now returning to the Haag). On all stations there was pure chaos, when I asked when the 20.45 train for Schiphol leaves,, five minutes before scheduled departure, the clerk said "Either platform 1 or platform 4, we're not sure yet, and the platforms are still blocked by other trains". Trains were being canceled, all people were in panic, and I knew that A. If my night train leaves Utrecht on time, I'll never catch it and B. that my train is the only one traveling to Munich in the night, and if I miss it, I'll have to catch some regional trains, and wait about 5 hours in the middle of the night at some forgotten little station on the border, until the first regional train leaves for Düsseldorf at 5 A.M., and then change 2-3 Intercities and arrive in Munich about 7 hours late. By the way, I would have to pay for all those trains without the possibility to get my money back for the unused night-train ticket. I called my colleague who had been at the same workshop and was traveling back by car and asked him if he can come back to take me to Germany, but he was on the border when I called, and I told him it doesn't make sense after he's traveled 2/3 of the distance to come back. So I had to cope with a concerned co-worker as well, who called every 15 minutes to ask if I'm gonna make it to my train, thus rendering my cell phone roaming costs huge and adding to the overall confusion (searching for a ringing phone in the middle of a stampeding crowd on an escalator isn't funny).
I had luck. I was able to squeeze into the trains to Utrecht (which were overflowing with passengers), to catch the right ones (while all information boards got switched off and the messages on the loudspeakers were only read in Dutch) and to catch my night train - because in the chaos it had had to wait 45 minutes for a track. So I arrived on time and got to work and I am taking my lunch break now. Had I been less lucky, I would now be somewhere in the middle of Germany, waiting for the sixth train change for the day (not counting the ones yesterday)...

Answer 7

Princess, I had this one about three years ago. When I go to work, I always take my scooter. On that particular day, it was raining hard, and visibility on the road was not very good when you're wearing a helmet. If you've ridden on a motorcycle on a rainy day, you know what I mean. So on a particular part of the road, there was this big iron plate that they used to cover a hole, and this plate was about 2 centimeters thick. So when my wheel hit it, I skidded off the slippery surface. Now imagine me rolling off the surface with my fallen scooter about 3 meters behind me. Because of what happened, my pants were torn off, and I also began to be wet. The raincoat I was wearing didn't help much.

Anyway, I gathered myself together, very disgruntled at my carelessness, set my scooter back up again and continued on to work. I was still a bit shaken when I came into work, what with the lower part of my pants dirty and torn up. So I decided to cut it up from the knees, and that pair of jeans was one of the two that I only had!! It really affected my mood for the rest of the day.

Now cheer up, it's not the end of the world.

Answer 8

I'll tell you my worst journey home, a week before Christmas (one before last) went to catch a bus home, it was freezing and chucking down snow, no buses in sight, had a hair appointment an hour later, then we heard through phonecalls that the main road through was closed because of an accident. We had to wait 3 hours in the freezing cold wind and snow for a bus to eventually come, which then had to take a massive detour around Aberdeen, everyone was only dressed for work, not actic weather, it took me ages to feel my hands and feet again.

Answer 9

My worst journey to work, may not count as I never made it to work that day, I was passenger in a car, somebody pulled out of a side turning and we slammed into the side of it. I was a front seat passenger and no seatbelt, I ended up with 40 stitches, a broken rib and punctured lung, lucky to be alive.

Answer 10

Ok, I've only had one job and its right around the corner from my house but one morning I was had to be at work at 8 but I was staying at a friends house a good hour away. So I got up early, with a hang over, took the coldest shower, left with my wet uniform on, in 50 degree weather, made it to work on time and when it was time for my break I realized I didn't have to come in that day.

Answer 11

I was cycling to work a few months back on a very cold morning, in the dark. A young girl I see every morning delivering papers on her round, came straight out of a driveway and into the path of an oncoming car. She was knocked flying and shattered the cars windscreen.
Amazingly she wasn't hurt too bad. It turned out she was the daughter of a colleague of mine. Nightmare!