2 Creative Pragmatists Walk into the Subway

A short story about mindset, and a thank you to a kind stranger.

If you regularly ride the New York subway, or if you’ve been on the internet in the last month, you might have seen chatter amongst fellow commuters about glitches with Omni. For non-New Yorkers, Omni is the system that the MTA has been implementing instead of a good old-fashioned MetroCard. Glitches are not exclusive to Omni software; however, they are slightly more frustrating than others. Especially when you’re running late, like I was on a Wednesday a few weeks ago (sorry Amy!).

I woke up that day to find notifications for 9 Omni charges to my phone. After a brief panic, I realized that the charges checked out in comparison to the trips I’d taken the days prior—they’d just been delayed. I figured the glitch-bug going around had reached me, but I quickly moved on from the thought and poured my first coffee of the day. This particular morning was just one of those perfect storms that resulted in me being just a little behind on schedule. Not enough to ruin the day, but certainly enough to stress me out. We had a big shoot that day—not the kind of thing you want to be late for. I finally get myself out the door and speed walk to the train. My shoes are rubbing on the back of my heel, my AirPods are dead, the condensation on my to-go cold brew glass is starting to drip down my arm, and my too-heavy bag is leaving an indent in my shoulder. Awesome.

As I walk down the steps into the subway, I hear the rumble of the A train pulling in. I think, “How lucky!! Perfect timing.” As I tap my phone, feeling absolutely giddy that my train seemingly waited for me to arrive before pulling into the station, I slam into the turnstile. I tap my phone again, slam into the turnstile. Flustered and annoyed, I realize that it’s the Omni glitch with tap-to-pay, so I frantically dig around in my bag for my wallet to grab my card. Out of nowhere, a very chic woman swipes her MetroCard (I told you she was chic) and beckons me to go through the turnstile. I look at her—albeit, probably too dramatically—and blurt out, “Are you sure?!”

She smiles, calmly, and motions for me to go through the turnstile. I make it through just in time to hop on the train. As I look back to say thank you, the woman had already turned away and was rushing to her train on another platform in the station. Something on the back of her trench coat catches the fluorescent light—a silver ring tacked just below the collar. She was wearing the Fundamentals Lancaster Lyocell Trench. Of COURSE, she’s wearing Tibi. Of COURSE, she’s a nice person. Creative Pragmatists tend to be nice people, anyway.

I’m not sharing this story as a PSA to double-check your commute charges (though it’s probably a good idea). I’m sharing it as a reminder that people with similar mindsets almost always find each other—one way or another.

Sometimes it happens at a retreat on a quiet island in Georgia, where a group of women, who at first glance might only seem to share a favorite clothing brand, end up discovering they have deeply aligned values. Other times, it’s a virtual connection with someone on the other side of the world. You might’ve followed each other while hunting for an old pair of Bronson boots, but now you’re swapping life updates like old friends. Or maybe it’s a kind stranger who saved the day at the subway turnstile—perhaps she recognized that I was wearing Crispy Nylon, or maybe she didn’t notice at all. Either way, I would bet that if we had a second more to chat, we’d have a lot more in common than the same silver ring on the back of our jackets.