Author Topic: The 50 feet commute  (Read 11789 times)

r3dt4rget

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The 50 feet commute
« on: January 06, 2015, 03:05:30 PM »
This is so bad I just had to post it. My girlfriend started a new job and learned in talking with her new co-workers that one of them lives in the lot next door to the business. The driveway to driveway distance is probably 50 feet or so. You can imagine the look on my face when she told me her co-worker commutes to work in a Honda CRV. Because the driveway is on the opposite side of the lot, it's actually closer from their front door to the business front door than driving.

« Last Edit: January 06, 2015, 05:42:27 PM by r3dt4rget »

greenmimama

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Re: The 50 feet commute
« Reply #1 on: January 06, 2015, 04:03:26 PM »
SMDH

JohnnyDollar

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Re: The 50 feet commute
« Reply #2 on: January 06, 2015, 04:37:46 PM »
Doubt it's what's referenced here, but in fairness the 50' matters.  I can think of several 45MPH+, "50-foot"-wide roads I wouldn't cross on foot if you paid me.  Seen people blow through lights on their cell phones, applying makeup, eating a bowl of cereal(!!), at well over the posted limit.

fantabulous

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Re: The 50 feet commute
« Reply #3 on: January 06, 2015, 04:54:33 PM »
I'm guessing the coworker isn't actually afflicted, but some people do have various medical conditions where they may look physically capable of the walk but lack the endurance for it reliably.

minority_finance_mo

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Re: The 50 feet commute
« Reply #4 on: January 06, 2015, 04:56:54 PM »
Doubt it's what's referenced here, but in fairness the 50' matters.  I can think of several 45MPH+, "50-foot"-wide roads I wouldn't cross on foot if you paid me.  Seen people blow through lights on their cell phones, applying makeup, eating a bowl of cereal(!!), at well over the posted limit.

Yeah, it seems OP's GF's coworker lives on the same block, so she may not even be crossing the street to get where she needs to. Regardless, there are street lights in most industrial areas...

austin

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Re: The 50 feet commute
« Reply #5 on: January 06, 2015, 05:16:53 PM »
Wow.

Related story - I'm in the military and our offices and workspace can't be 200m from the barracks where the younger soldiers all live. Still, the great majority of them will drive their cars from one parking lot to the other.

kpd905

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Re: The 50 feet commute
« Reply #6 on: January 06, 2015, 05:18:21 PM »
I just moved for a new job and got an apartment somewhere around 1/3 of a mile away.  I told a coworker and he said "Oh, you'll still drive.  It's Wisconsin."  For about a week he was driving his wife to work so she wouldn't have to walk the ~100 yards from the parking lot to the door in the cold.

I think it would be a longer walk from the parking garage than from my apartment.

takeahike

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Re: The 50 feet commute
« Reply #7 on: January 06, 2015, 05:29:14 PM »
Well that's extreme! I sure hope she has some kind of good reason for that.

kpd905

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Re: The 50 feet commute
« Reply #8 on: January 06, 2015, 05:51:14 PM »
Well that's extreme! I sure hope she has some kind of good reason for that.

Like at least two broken legs.

takeahike

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Re: The 50 feet commute
« Reply #9 on: January 06, 2015, 06:39:18 PM »
Well that's extreme! I sure hope she has some kind of good reason for that.

Like at least two broken legs.

and bunions!

Jouer

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Re: The 50 feet commute
« Reply #10 on: January 07, 2015, 06:55:09 AM »
Is this a USA thing? I was in Tampa last March for a course - my colleagues and I picked a hotel close to the teaching facilities, a 20 minute walk. Somehow it came up that we didn't have a car rental and our instructor was confused when we said we just walked there from the hotel. He said there were no hotels in the area. I live in Canada and it was March in Florida....I was outside every second I could be!! We didn't see one other pedestrian on our walks to and from the teaching facilities and we almost got run over on our morning runs, seemingly because drivers were not expecting us to be there.

Jack

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Re: The 50 feet commute
« Reply #11 on: January 07, 2015, 07:10:28 AM »
Wow.

Related story - I'm in the military and our offices and workspace can't be 200m from the barracks where the younger soldiers all live. Still, the great majority of them will drive their cars from one parking lot to the other.

Since it's the military, can't somebody just order them to stop doing that?

arebelspy

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Re: The 50 feet commute
« Reply #12 on: January 07, 2015, 08:13:38 AM »
See if your SO can get a picture showing both the office and domicile by taking it from across the street or something.  :)
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going2ER

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Re: The 50 feet commute
« Reply #13 on: January 07, 2015, 08:32:58 AM »
I am required to have my vehicle for employment and I still would not drive the 50 feet. If I needed to go out for work, I'd just walk 50 feet back to my parking spot. Some places you can't even get a parking spot that close to where you are going. That is just crazy to drive it.

firebeard

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Re: The 50 feet commute
« Reply #14 on: January 07, 2015, 09:09:11 AM »
I just moved for a new job and got an apartment somewhere around 1/3 of a mile away.  I told a coworker and he said "Oh, you'll still drive.  It's Wisconsin."  For about a week he was driving his wife to work so she wouldn't have to walk the ~100 yards from the parking lot to the door in the cold.

I think it would be a longer walk from the parking garage than from my apartment.

(My first post!  I've been following MMM since 2012 and started lurking on the forums last year.)

I went to school in Wisconsin, and I walked miles every day between classes and my apartment even when it was below zero before windchill, and the wind could be brutal since there were wide roads and lots of concrete.  Now I work from home--about a 5 yard commute from bed--and honestly miss having to walk outside in the morning chill.  Warming up after coming inside and taking off my coat was a fantastic feeling.

Patrick A

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Re: The 50 feet commute
« Reply #15 on: January 07, 2015, 09:17:50 AM »
Ugh - I did a year in Colorado living in employee housing at a ski resort.  My friend and I had two roommates who got pretty pissed at us when we refused to let them use the car to go across the parking lot to do their laundry.  This is one of the many reasons I never really kept up communication with these people. 

dcheesi

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Re: The 50 feet commute
« Reply #16 on: January 07, 2015, 10:02:17 AM »
In my un-mustachian youth, I had an apartment maybe a half-mile from work. But there were no sidewalks, and a creek ran in between that could only be crossed either via private property or a small road bridge with no more than a foot of shoulder on one side to walk on next to the traffic. I'm embarrassed to say that I tended to drive more often than I walked...

BlueMR2

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Re: The 50 feet commute
« Reply #17 on: January 07, 2015, 10:07:05 AM »
When I was in college, there were people I knew that drove from the dorms to the main classroom building, which was across the street.  And a not very busy residential street it was.  Never understood that...

GuitarStv

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Re: The 50 feet commute
« Reply #18 on: January 07, 2015, 10:08:32 AM »
There's an awful lot of repetition of the fact that cities are being designed for and around cars, and everyone else be damned.  It's very sad to hear.

mskyle

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Re: The 50 feet commute
« Reply #19 on: January 07, 2015, 11:51:07 AM »
My mom drives to work, which is directly across the street from her condo complex. And then she comes home and runs on the treadmill. In fairness, the driveways are long-ish, and I know she worries about getting hit by a car on the street she has to cross, but it's a completely straight road with at most moderate traffic and she can see cars coming a good quarter of a mile away.

I had told my boyfriend about her commute but he didn't believe me until we went to visit at Christmas and I pointed the two driveways out to him. Also she tried to give us a Keurig, but fortunately she was cool about it when I was unable to conceal my dismay at receiving a giant expensive-to-use waste of counter space.

austin

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Re: The 50 feet commute
« Reply #20 on: January 07, 2015, 01:38:12 PM »
My mom drives to work, which is directly across the street from her condo complex. And then she comes home and runs on the treadmill. In fairness, the driveways are long-ish, and I know she worries about getting hit by a car on the street she has to cross, but it's a completely straight road with at most moderate traffic and she can see cars coming a good quarter of a mile away.

I had told my boyfriend about her commute but he didn't believe me until we went to visit at Christmas and I pointed the two driveways out to him. Also she tried to give us a Keurig, but fortunately she was cool about it when I was unable to conceal my dismay at receiving a giant expensive-to-use waste of counter space.

You can buy reusable mesh coffee pods for a few dollars and put regular coffee in it. It ends up being cheaper beause you never make more coffee than you will consume.

Melchior

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Re: The 50 feet commute
« Reply #21 on: January 07, 2015, 03:57:33 PM »
As a current owner of a hand-me-down Keurig machine and reusable mesh coffee pod I can confirm that it can be a convenient way to make a quick, albeit not so great, cup of coffee for one.

After a recent move though the Keurig has lost out to a Turkish coffee pot which makes great coffee. Great, foamy coffee.

One Noisy Cat

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Re: The 50 feet commute
« Reply #22 on: January 07, 2015, 04:15:04 PM »
Wow.

Related story - I'm in the military and our offices and workspace can't be 200m from the barracks where the younger soldiers all live. Still, the great majority of them will drive their cars from one parking lot to the other.

Since it's the military, can't somebody just order them to stop doing that?


    I imagine you could but a lot of officers probably figure as it's not  worth the hassle.  Enlisteds could find some way of getting back such as not working as hard or suddenly losing a lot of things. Officers actually have less job security-they have to advance periodically and serve at the discretion of Congress.  As one O-3 once commented in my E-6 presence, unless some goofs up and fails a urinalysis, we can't just fire him.
    I know one station I was at 35 years, some people who drive the 800 feet from the BEQ to the station (married housing was 4 miles away).  Occasionally there was a good reason- better tools and a garage if you were doing repairs after work. But most were just lazy or didn't wake up early enough

thrifted

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Re: The 50 feet commute
« Reply #23 on: January 07, 2015, 05:12:49 PM »
is there a very steep hill?  this is so funny!

at my old company we had a shuttle service so that people wouldn't have to walk 200 ft.  it was strange but it worked really well on hot or rainy days. 

maybe the coworker didn't get the memo that walking is good for most human beings.

mskyle

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Re: The 50 feet commute
« Reply #24 on: January 08, 2015, 07:45:51 AM »
My mom drives to work, which is directly across the street from her condo complex. And then she comes home and runs on the treadmill. In fairness, the driveways are long-ish, and I know she worries about getting hit by a car on the street she has to cross, but it's a completely straight road with at most moderate traffic and she can see cars coming a good quarter of a mile away.

I had told my boyfriend about her commute but he didn't believe me until we went to visit at Christmas and I pointed the two driveways out to him. Also she tried to give us a Keurig, but fortunately she was cool about it when I was unable to conceal my dismay at receiving a giant expensive-to-use waste of counter space.

You can buy reusable mesh coffee pods for a few dollars and put regular coffee in it. It ends up being cheaper beause you never make more coffee than you will consume.

I use a single-cup pour-over cone and a small electric kettle - one cup at a time, and I do use a filter for every cup but they're pretty inexpensive and it tastes a lot better than Keurig style to me (used to use the reusable pods at a previous job).

powersuitrecall

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Re: The 50 feet commute
« Reply #25 on: January 08, 2015, 09:05:44 AM »
Coffee is always a good reason to go off topic.  I can't think of a better purchase than my Aeropress (it's like a French press, but has a filter and you can"push" it out when the desired strength/bitterness is reached) .  I thought I'd just use it for camping but it's been my daily maker for about 7 years now.  Not quite a cheap as the cone/cup method, but the coffee is soooo good out of it (with some practice).  It's really great for the one-cup-a-day person.

On topic: A co-worker moved to an apartment very close to work (about twice the distance as the walk from the parking lot).  He kept his parking pass and continues to drive to work.  When told how ridiculous he is, He argues for his desire to drive to the mall for lunch, and go to the gym a couple kms away after work (even though there is a free company gym in the building).

Nords

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Re: The 50 feet commute
« Reply #26 on: January 11, 2015, 04:48:09 PM »
Wow.

Related story - I'm in the military and our offices and workspace can't be 200m from the barracks where the younger soldiers all live. Still, the great majority of them will drive their cars from one parking lot to the other.

Since it's the military, can't somebody just order them to stop doing that?
C'mon, if you were in the military would you respect an order like that?  Or would you do your best to subvert it or work around it? 

Many of the servicemembers I had the pleasure of working with would see that order as a challenge and would do their best to embarrass the order-giver in front of more senior people who knew better than to give orders like that.  "Sorry, Colonel, but I can't do that.  2LT Schmuckatelli explicitly ordered us not to drive from the barracks."

Military authority is a bucket of water that you carry around with you, not a fire hose.  If you're going to quench fires, choose carefully and don't make a mess.

See if your SO can get a picture showing both the office and domicile by taking it from across the street or something.  :)
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mydogismyheart

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Re: The 50 feet commute
« Reply #27 on: January 13, 2015, 05:32:45 PM »
When I was a teenager,  we lived about .75 miles from our highschool. Not only that but our mom taught there as well.  We all 3 drove daily... in separate vehicles.  The short distance would have been easy to walk.  The only reason we drove separately was because we all left at different times during the day to go to different places, so that part of it made sense.  But it was hysterical watching all 3 of us leave in our separate cars at approx. the same time to go to the same place.  Awesome.

slugline

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Re: The 50 feet commute
« Reply #28 on: January 14, 2015, 07:18:45 AM »
How's this for a ridiculous what-if scenario -- What if the two parking lots are restricted so that one prohibits parking during business hours and the other prohibits overnight parking? The car owner is "commuting" purely to avoid towing.


CALL 911

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Re: The 50 feet commute
« Reply #29 on: January 14, 2015, 11:30:25 AM »
While in college, I saw a young lady leave her off campus apartment, get into her BMW and drive ~150 feet to a stop sign. Then she drove ~100 feet into an on campus parking spot. She got out of the car, stretched for 30 seconds, then take off jogging on the jogging path that surrounded the campus.

She literally drove 250' to go jogging. I still can't comprehend what I saw that day.

rothnroll

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Re: The 50 feet commute
« Reply #30 on: January 14, 2015, 11:39:12 AM »
My neighbor has a golf cart in his garage. He uses it to check the mail at the end of his driveway.. maybe 50 feet?
We live in a residential area. I have never seen anything like it.

Wolf_Stache

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Re: The 50 feet commute
« Reply #31 on: January 14, 2015, 11:44:13 AM »
When I was a teenager,  we lived about .75 miles from our highschool. Not only that but our mom taught there as well.  We all 3 drove daily... in separate vehicles.  The short distance would have been easy to walk.  The only reason we drove separately was because we all left at different times during the day to go to different places, so that part of it made sense.  But it was hysterical watching all 3 of us leave in our separate cars at approx. the same time to go to the same place.  Awesome.

When I was a teen, we lived maybe 1/2 mile from the Junior High, but we HAD to get a ride or take the bus. Why? A FOUR LANE HIGHWAY separated our neighborhood from the jr. high. The closest crosslight for pedestirans was easily 8 miles down the road in either direction. You could see the d*** place from our driveway, but walking took you over 3 hours.

Last time I went back to that that town, they'd FINALLY connected the neighborhood to the jr. high with a light and dedicated crosswalk for kids.

Yes, there are times where you literally have no option but to drive even though the distance sounds stupid, but this doesn't compute in my mind.


Bob W

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Re: The 50 feet commute
« Reply #32 on: January 14, 2015, 12:55:23 PM »
Seriously from the post title I thought you were going to brag how you walked from your bathroom to your office on the other side of your house and how you worked in you pajamas.

But this is completely nuts.   In my office it is literally 50 feet  from my desk to the file room.   

Shortbus

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Re: The 50 feet commute
« Reply #33 on: January 16, 2015, 10:32:07 AM »
Is this a USA thing? I was in Tampa last March for a course - my colleagues and I picked a hotel close to the teaching facilities, a 20 minute walk. Somehow it came up that we didn't have a car rental and our instructor was confused when we said we just walked there from the hotel. He said there were no hotels in the area. I live in Canada and it was March in Florida....I was outside every second I could be!! We didn't see one other pedestrian on our walks to and from the teaching facilities and we almost got run over on our morning runs, seemingly because drivers were not expecting us to be there.

I'm from Tampa. Your last sentence explains a lot. I wouldn't even think about riding my bike on the roads up there though walking isn't so bad in some areas.

Also keep in mind that while March is usually lovely down here a good 6-8 months of the year are pure misery with the heat and humidity. I'm not defending the practice of driving everywhere in any way, just offering the viewpoint of an ex-local. I'm happy to live in a more bike friendly town now where I barely drive at all.

UnleashHell

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Re: The 50 feet commute
« Reply #34 on: January 16, 2015, 12:07:10 PM »

I'm from Tampa. Your last sentence explains a lot. I wouldn't even think about riding my bike on the roads up there though walking isn't so bad in some areas.



I would!!  I do... can be a bit of an adrenaline rush sometimes!!! 

 

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