Brighten Your Day

Not being on a field trip since middle school, I decided to go to a San Francisco museum exhibit for a Saturday extra credit opportunity. I took BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) from Berkeley to SF. I never used the San Francisco's public bus system so I didn't know what to expect except so I stocked up on quarters. While waiting for the bus, I was holding on to about $2.50 in quarters and fiddling with them in my hands. There was an elderly Chinese lady sitting next to me, also waiting for the bus. She started speaking to me in Chinese and I don't speak Chinese so I had no option but to communicate to her in English. She was still speaking to me in Chinese and she pointed to the quarters I had in my hand. Then I thought "Oh, I think she needs money for the bus" so I held out my hand with a fistful of quarters and she took $0.75. I felt good because I just helped out an elderly lady with her bus fare.

When the bus arrived, she handed me a card. I was confused so I looked at the card more carefully then I saw that it was an unlimited ride monthly pass. She put in the $0.75 cents and I swiped the card. As she found her seat, she pointed back to the card, and I gave her the card back. Then it finally clicked! It would have cost me $2.00 to ride, but she let me use her monthly pass, while she got the senior citizen discount! It saved me $1.25 in all! I thought I was helping her with $0.75, but in the end she was helping me the whole time.