Casual Carpool Psychology

Casual carpool is an East Bay phenomenon.

I line up at the curb with fifteen other folks during morning rush hour, outside the BART, and lo, a SF-bound car shows up within a few minutes wanting to bring more passengers onboard.

This can turn out one of two ways: Number One is that we nod to each other, zoom away, and part ways at the other side of the bridge with another nod goodbye. Number Two is that the driver begins chattering away...etiquette dictates passengers shouldn't initiate conversation...but there's no etiquette about how to handle a driver-tells-all kind of morning.

The first day I carpooled was with a woman who immediately began talking about how it's so horrible to have small children, and she volunteered for work that day just to get away from them. Yikes.

It's kinda like an airplane; it can turn out well if you start chatting with your neighbor and you find out you know the same people, or you're both in the same line of work, or whatever. But it can be pure hell for the next 5 hours if the chatty Kathy next to you decides to continue your polite small talk into your nap- or book-time.

You have to figure these things out early, I guess.