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I'm just asking because I've never taken mass transit before and I have only rarely driven into NYC. I understand that my question may seem trivial to veteran commuters, but please understand where I'm coming from: I'm a young, very excited, enthusiastic, curious young man hoping to launch a professional career. One day I'm sure I'll feel like all of you and think such questions are uncalled for, but I just want to have an idea of what to expect. I apologize if I frustrated any of you. I knew all along the commute would suck, but I do appreciate your suggestions. I have not brushed you off; I hear you: PATH train, PATH train, PATH train! Thanks for your help.
I'm just asking because I've never taken mass transit before and I have only rarely driven into NYC. I understand that my question may seem trivial to veteran commuters, but please understand where I'm coming from: I'm a young, very excited, enthusiastic, curious young man hoping to launch a professional career. One day I'm sure I'll feel like all of you and think such questions are uncalled for, but I just want to have an idea of what to expect. I apologize if I frustrated any of you. I knew all along the commute would suck, but I do appreciate your suggestions. I have not brushed you off; I hear you: PATH train, PATH train, PATH train! Thanks for your help.
Just make sure that you do yourself a favor: when people at your new job suggest how they want something done, do not keep second-guessing them and suggesting whether other ways to do it might not be better. Just follow their instructions with a smile on your face.
Wow. On the one hand, I want to tell you to not let the city crush your spirit, and to hold on to that green innocence and lush enthusiasm. I want to tell you to stay true to yourself and not let the city change and harden you.
On the other hand, I want to shake you and tell you to wake up!
Everyone's commute into Manhattan sucks. Even New Yorkers' commutes into Manhattan suck.
I have coworkers in some parts of Queens & Brooklyn that have a longer ride than I do some days because the subways and MTA buses suck just as hard as NJ mass transit. If fact, I have coworkers who live right IN Manhattan and their commutes suck because they have to let 4 subways go by before they can finally jam their way on to one.
But, if you wanna make Manhattan money, that's the price you pay.
If you can't handle the dog-eat-dog commute, stay in your neck of the woods. That'll make it less crowded for the rest of us.
Sorry if that hurts your feelings, but you can't be nice and survive in Manhattan.
You seriously have to be a bastard if you want to survive here.
And if you really want to make it BIG and get to be a financial & professional success? You have to be a complete A-hole scumbag. Do you think the big dogs at Goldman Sachs got to the top by being too soft to walk the < 1/2 a mile from WTC to Maiden Lane?
And dude---stop apologizing so much. The stockbrokers, fund managers and lawyers are gonna rip you to shreds if you don't learn to be more of a bastard.
Two more pieces of advice:
1. Don't get played by the panhandlers. Walk fast, look pissed, and don't make eye contact. They prey on people like you.
I’m going to be obnoxious and give you advice you didn’t ask for. I work for a b/d. We (in my company and others) have seen an influx of candidates lately who couldn’t find their own butts with two hands and a flashlight and are perfectly happy to stand by while other people look for it for them. You thought people here were angry at one point when it was really frustration that you a) made no effort to research your commute before posting here and b) complained that all suggestions were too hard. You may be the hardest, most diligent and clever worker – I don’t know. But you’ll need to be to last 5 minutes where you’re going. Do more than is asked of you. Take initiative. When someone asks you to do something or assigns you a task, unless they specifically say “when you get a chance” or “no rush”, they mean they want it done NOW. If someone is training you on a system or procedure take notes. Do not expect someone to walk you through it 3 times. Do not attend meetings without a pen and paper.
Get on a train or a boat and come down here and wander the area. Do not wait until your first day of work to try get here for the first time or there is a good chance you will arrive an hour or two late. Is this a high school or college internship?
My dear friend is a professor at a highly regarded b-school and she says that many of her students are very difficult to teach and have as students. They love to point the finger at everyone around them and can't accept that they have real faults.
It must be the sad result of the helicopter parenting that's become fashionable.
But our commuting friend here must have done something right or else none of his professors would have recommended him for the internship. Unless the helicopters pulled some strings....
I used to do Hunterdon County to 14 Wall daily for five plus years. I drove to Millington to take train to Hoboken, then ferry to WFC. That was before 9/11. As far as PATH or the MTA (subway) or a bus - you could not get me into the tunnel these days to be stuck underground with the rest of the rats. The ferry is so regular that you could set your watch by it. Take the ferry, unless you can afford to take a helicoper to the South Stree Heliport and them limo to 180 Maiden. ;-)
Last edited by blublublu; 11-27-2008 at 07:24 PM..
Reason: formatting came out wrong
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