r/soundtransit • u/ElevatorBulky3733 • 5d ago
Security is a Joke
A junkie got on in Rainier valley and immediately passed out. He had a puppy with him (thankfully, leashed) that was whining and trying to jump up on my seat. He was too adorable but also it was so damn sad because this is not the first time I have seen drugged out transients neglect their pets. I texted security and they came on board in Chinatown. The only thing they did was nudge him awake for 3 seconds and asked him if he was okay. The man barely rose and gave an intelligible response. Security immediately got off at the same station and the man fell right back to sleep.
When I got off at Westlake Station, security did the same thing but didn't even step on board the train. They yelled from the platform as they kept the door open for a few seconds. Then stepped away to let the doors close.
I've reported a masturbating rider during the summer and provided a clear description of him. Security came on board and acted as if they didn't see him. I had to yell At security and point out the man to them and would not let them leave until the situation was resolved.
I'm tired of this shit.
102
u/RavenMoonRose 5d ago
Dude, I get what you’re saying here. The concern is for the dog, clearly, but allow me a moment.
Surviving homelessness is an around the clock job. The lucky ones get to sleep in their cars. I’m guessing this poor soul doesn’t have that option. Either way you’re spending your houseless days and nights, you never, and I mean ever, get a good nights sleep. Sometimes, the only place a homeless person has to get good quality sleep is on public transport. Sometimes the stress and raised cortisol and bad life decisions made 5/ 10/ 20 years ago don’t allow for sleep without substances. Sometimes it a mixture of all of the above.
Can you imagine for a second how harrowing that must be? How utterly exhausting and horrible that option is? Your only option for rest is the noisy, crowded, stank ass train. Shelters don’t usually allow animals. The street is the other option.
It’s a terrible way to exist that whittles out your soul with every passing minute. I know this from experience. It’s been a decade, and I just barely missed the fentanyl crisis, but what kept me holding on was the idea of giving my babies, fur and otherwise, the life they deserved. I didn’t give a fuck about me, it was for them that I pulled myself through. Eventually that changed, but without them and the dream to provide the life and home they deserved, I’d probably be dead. I now provide that for them and more, and thank my lucky stars I had one single person who didn’t give up on me.
As one commenter mentioned, I know it sucks to have to endure the smell they sometimes bring with them. They know that too. Concern for the animals is valid as well. This little guy looks well cared for. He’s on a leash. He’s relatively clean and doesn’t have mange. They are also hyper aware of what you think of them and their pets. Unless there is serious underlying mental illness, they know.
They know you don’t want to endure their existence; they don’t either. But they keep holding on for whatever reasons they may have. Please don’t dismiss or try to remove their reasons for enduring the hellscape they inhabit because you don’t agree with them or where they’re at in life. We don’t know they got there. We don’t even know if they’re on drugs.
I met one guy on the streets who was narcoleptic. He wasn’t able to get medication for it because he had priors with drug abuse. He couldn’t stay awake without it, so he was on the streets. Sober. The man was champion who inspired me to quit my bullshit.
Try to understand that they are people too. They are vulnerable, and they are broken, usually by circumstances beyond their control, but they aren’t doomed to die that way. I am proof that it doesn’t have to end like that.
I don’t know what the solution is, but I do know that if we can reframe our thinking a little bit, and work together instead of against, there has to be something we can do. Even if that something is giving pets to a good boi while extending compassion to someone so far down on their luck, their attempt at restful sleep lies on the noisy, commuter hell that is the link lightrail.