The J on J Street

Posted by William Edwards Deming

First of all I have to admit it wasn't on J Street. It was at an intersection with J Street. Forgive me.

I was driving on the freeway, heading downtown, and had just exited when I witnessed the closest thing I have ever seen to a miracle (not true, but still, it was a unique event.) As I drove onto the street after the exit I could see the line of cars all the way up to the next light making a gentle curve to the right edge of the lane. Not a single car in about a dozen was out of place. The car stopped at the light was to the far left, the next one over a little bit, the next one a little further and so on. It was so smooth and clean looking in comparison to the mess of traffic around.

Then there was me. I was in the middle of the lane (like most of us drive) and being in that position allowed me to witness it's formation as the cars all slowed to a stop, but it also put me in the unique position of ruining the effect. Oops. I was so distracted by the smoothness of the curve that I remained stopped for long after the cars ahead of me rolled onward, thus holding up traffic. Oops again.

I was that guy. Mouth open, headphones on, staring at something while traffic is stuck behind me honking. GOD I hate that guy.

So next time you see that guy (or girl for that matter) holding up traffic with a dumbstruck look on their dumb face remember me. Well, no don't do that. You might hit me the next time you saw me if you ran into these people enough... Remember that sometimes there are weird little phenomena that make you stop and take a moment to really look... Even in the middle of rush-hour traffic.