Slug Tales: Slugging Can Bring Out ‘Talkers’

Editor’s note: This is the first is a series of columns that aims to share the lighter side of Slugging – the popular commuting method used on Interstate 95 / 395’s High Occupancy Vehicle Lanes. Read on to find out how you can win $50 in gas.

By Laura Cirillo

For Slugs who commute from Virginia to Washington, D.C., there’s a reason why a “no talking rule” is in place.

One day while carpooling home from work, this particular lady and I ended up in the same car.

She and I both are Slugs — no, not a slimy gastropod mollusk without a shell – but commuters who use an informal carpooling system to travel between our homes in Northern Virginia to jobs in and around Washington, D.C.

To Slug, vehicles must have three or more occupants inside to use the highway’s commuter lanes, or High Occupancy Vehicle lanes. It’s customary to stand in lines of fellow Slugs who are all waiting for rides home.

While at the Pentagon one afternoon, a car pulled with a couple that was riding home together. The couple invited us to ride, and another Slug standing next to me – a woman whom I didn’t know, as is usually the case with Slugging – and I both slid into the backseat.

While I normally nap on the ride home, I couldn’t on this afternoon because the Slug sitting next to me was a “talker.” She was going on about how her son had just been accepted to an out-of-state university on a full athletic scholarship.

She was a proud mother, and I couldn’t blame her. He was even being featured in a magazine article. The driver of the car and his wife, both in the front seats congratulated her, noting how thrilled she must be.

Then the proud momma went into how her star athlete had served three years in jail for armed robbery and was now trying to turn his life around. Good for him, but this was probably more than we needed to know from a complete stranger at 5 p.m. on a Wednesday.

She continued with more details, about how they cried together when she visited him in jail, and how his father had never really been around. Considering the ride from the Pentagon to the commuter lot near my home is normally 30 minutes or less, this one-sided conversation was getting pretty heavy.

Finally, she stopped and asked if she could make a phone call. Our ride culminated with momma calling the magazine to order as many copies as possible of the issue her son was featured in.

At the end of our trip, she was dropped off first. Later I got to hear the couples’ reactions to their passenger’s stories. The wife admitted that she had to close her eyes and stop listening after a while, and the husband agreed that he was only trying to humor her. He understood her excitement at first, but then it started to get, well, a little uncomfortable.

This is a prime example of why the “no talking” rule is in place. We may share rides with our fellow slugs, but none of them need to know our life stories!

Laura Cirillo lives in Prince William County and commutes to work daily in Washington, D.C. Whether she’s slugging or on the bus, Laura knows commuting is always more fun on Northern Virginia’s High Occupancy Vehicle lanes, avoiding rush hour madness and catching a power nap along the way.

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Share with Slug Tales your best Slug story, from the funny to the irreverent, sometimes just Slugging to or from work can be one of the most memorable events of the day. In April we’ll pick our favorite submitted Slug Tale and award the submitter with a $50 gas card. Please be sure to include your full name, address, email and telephone number with your submission. Good luck.