So you live in Jersey and commute into New York City. You can pretty much see your office building from your place across the Hudson.
Whether your saving on rent by living in an apartment on the Jersey side of the Hudson, or living at your parent's place in the suburbs, you're still stuck as part of the throng of people heading into NYC each and every day.
On top of that, you have to deal with the inevitable scrutiny native New Yorkers (and fake New Yorkers who claim to be the real deal) give you, in spite of the fact that you may live closer to the city than they do... you just have a river separating you from your workplace.
Sometimes, when you're stuck in insane amounts of rush hour traffic, you think that it might be faster just to swim across the Hudson.
Don't worry, we've had that crazy thought too, but then remember that there's a chance of contracting something that modern doctors have never seen before.
We've put together a list of all the reasons why commuting into NYC just plain sucks.
1. Car
Driving in this city induces a murderous rage in even the most kind, non-violent people. When we're forced to drive into work, we find it a personal accomplishment if we arrive to our office and don't punch a hole in a pretty, freshly painted walls.
Beyond dealing with clueless pedestrians, ruthless taxi drivers, and the rest of the stressed out commuters, we have to deal with tourists who have driven in from the rest of the country and have no idea where they are going.
[anad]
You probably have two or three routes you take to your favorite parking garage (where the dudes know you by name and what time you'll be getting out of work), so when those tourists start pointing out of windows and taking pictures of random buildings, you immediately enact plan B.
Don't even get us started on parking. If you're rich enough to drive every single day into work or have a parking spot courtesy of your company, we're green with envy. If you thought that gas was expensive, check out what you're paying every day to park your car for less than 9 hours.
2. Rush hour traffic
Whether by car, bus, train, PATH, or ferry, you always have to deal with the horrors of rush hour commutes. And we mean just on normal days.
Seriously, the amount of people who commute into NYC from NJ every single day is staggering. In case you missed it, check out the population difference on this map.
Think about it. All of those people are trying to get IN and OUT of the city at the same time you are. That's why it can take you 20 minutes to trek into the city one day, and two hours on another.
God forbid there's an accident in the Lincoln Tunnel or on the GWB, a concert, or a sporting event. You're going to be sitting in three hours of traffic EASY.
3. Bus
So let's start off with saying that taking the bus is one of our favorite ways into the city from NJ. You can sit back, relax, and grab another hour or so of sleep as your trusty bus driver maneuvers his way through the crazy amount of cars clogging NJ's highways.
That's only after you wait in the cold hours of the morning for your bus to come. You have your timing down to a couple of minutes, but sometimes the bus is late OR so early you miss it.
But then, you have to deal with lines at your bus gate at Port Authority. Sometimes the lines wrap so far from your gate that you know you're not going to be making the next bus, or even the bus after that.
4. Train
So we're semi biased with this one. Some of our towns don't have a train station, and the neighboring towns that do charge an insane amount of money for you to be able to park there for the day. Others have it easy, and can just hop onto the train and speed your way towards NYC.
But then (again, if you're anything like us) you have to hop off your train in Newark just to hop on another to get to Penn Station, and then walk or subway to your office.
[anad2]
On top of that, the trains constantly feel like they're going to fall over (hence the constant need for rail work). There are also those overanxious people who stand in the middle of the aisles and start a line at the front of the car way before you're approaching the stop.
5. Chatty Kathys
If you take the train, bus, or ferry, you sometimes have to deal with over-chatty neighbors.
Maybe you didn't get your headphones in or your book out in time, maybe they don't notice your RBF, maybe they did and just want to talk and you're just the unfortunate soul that's going to be stuck getting your ear talked off by a total stranger.
Even if you're not said poor soul, you still have to endure the fact that the usual silence (at least on the bus) is going to be interrupted by conversation. There goes your extra hour of sleep.
,6. Manspreading
We're totally comfortable sitting next to someone on the bus or train.
Unless, that is, that someone is an inconsiderate jerk who decides that he's going to manspread his way onto half of our seat, and we're stuck either hanging into the aisle, squished into the cold window, or basically shoving our body on top of the person next to us because we legit have no room to exist.
[anad]
Seriously, we've been manspreaded on to the point where we've had to basically sit on part of a dude's lap before.
Listen up buddies: we're uncomfortable of that level of encroachment on our personal space even if we were intimately involved with you, which we wouldn't be, because that just shows your a mean, self-entitled person.
7. Schedules
We've noticed that we can get up at the same time every single day, leave for work at the same time each day, and be a half hour early one day and an hour late the next.
It really doesn't matter whether you're taking the bus, train, car, or ferry, you're going to be stuck with this unfortunate dilemma.
Sometimes the bus, train, or ferry is running late. Most of the times the subway you take from Port Authority, Grand Central or Penn Station is late. Sometimes there's going to be a back up due to an accident.
Other times you're going to be flying into work and have no warm place to sit and wait because your office building isn't open yet. You really just can't win.
8. Eating
How many signs in methods of public transportation do we need before people stop eating their disgustingly foul smelling foods that stink up the entire car? Or, worse yet, ruin your perfectly spotless suit because said rule-breaker drips grease onto you when the train/subway car suddenly jerks.
On top of that, it's usually either time for breakfast or dinner, and we really don't need to be thinking even more about the length of time until we can eat something for ourselves.
9. Loud music
We listen to music during our commute. It's a great way to pass the time.
However, if you're listening to your music at the highest volume to the point where we can make out every single word Kanye's spittin' while we're trying to sleep or relax, we're not going to be happy campers, and you're going to be deaf... seriously, take your hearing into consideration and lower your beats.
[anad2]
We should not be able to hear your music, regardless of how good or bad it is, at different ends of the bus, train cars, or subway cars. It's just not cool.
10. The "Commuter Stigma"
As a native of the garden state, you're ALWAYS going to deal with the crap that others will give you for being from the "armpit of the country."
No matter what, people are going to hate you for commuting into NYC. You're going to have people who look down on you like a trespasser for having the gall to work in THEIR city. No matter what, you can't win.
You could have grown up closer to the city than they did, but suddenly because you pay your rent across the Hudson, you're less New York than the idiot from Boston who moved to the city a month ago.
Heck, your native New Yorker friends will chime in when the Bostonian makes fun of your New Jersey residence. Great, but seriously, unless you've been born and raised in the city, don't claim to be a native New Yorker.
We're pretty much the little brother that no one loves... but that's okay, because we go home to the quiet suburbs, head down to the shore on weekends, and understand that the nickname of the "Garden State" wasn't and is not a mistake.
Check out 6 Best Places to Break Up in NYC.
[Feature Image Courtesy CBS New York]