TollBoothGuy
5 Years Experience
Brooklyn, NY
Male, 33
I spent just short of five years as a toll collector on the western end of New York State. Ask me anything, but please don't pay me in pennies.
While it is incredibly rare, and would probably take a perfect storm of circumstances, I have heard of this. I can only assume it would entail upwards of 300 16 hour days.
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I will say this about the people I worked with and are still out there to this day- they exercise incredible restraint. If you ever wonder why collectors aren't very talkative, I suspect this may be the reason. It's one of those jobs that the less you say sometimes, the better. I didn't personally witness anything catastrophic but there was a guy I worked with who flipped off a customer. I remember hearing a story about a guy who freaked out, locked up all his money at a small station and left. Not exactly sure how that one panned out but I think he kept his job for some time after that incident. People have definitely walked out on the job, though. I've heard of people going on their first break and just taking off.
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Thankfully, no. I occasionally had people get out of their cars and approach the booth to see what the heck was going on, though. Some even offered to pay the toll of the person holding up the line.
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This is a judgement call on the part of the collector. I'm going to assume based on the question that I don't actually observe any booze/weed and if that's the case all I'm going on is my impression of the driver. If something seems off, then I would escalate the situation- better safe than sorry. But, it's also entirely possible that they are just the DD. It's hard to paint these situations with one broad stroke. But if I ever did make the call, I always made sure to observe as much as I could. The more information you can provide, the better. Plate number, vehicle/operator decription, etc...
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Auto Mechanic
Are mechanics more likely to take advantage of female customers than males?
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Do Mexican authorities help on THEIR side of the border?
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Oh God, this could go on for a while but I suppose there were a few that stood above the rest. In our system, the ticket you're issued at your point of entry has your toll printed on it. During my last few years, the toll due (along with my collector number) was even displayed on the EZ-Pass 'Christmas Tree' light stand just beyond the booth. But two general rules apply- people don't look at signs and they definitely don't read things handed to them unless absolutely necessary. So as the hours pile up and each car pulls up with a 'how much is it?' we start to get a little worn down. Now people are fully within their rights to ask us how much it is, but our main objectives are to move traffic quickly and collect tolls accurately. If people were just a little proactive before they reach the booth, everybody wins. It's like the guys who stare out into space while they're twenty cars deep. get to the booth, can't find their ticket, need to undo their seatbelt as they get their wallet out of their back pocket, etc. We're all here, we're paying tolls, no one is happy about it, and absolutely no one is happy about waiting to pay tolls. So if we were a little more prepared, we could keep this line moving. Another big pet peeve is directions. If you have twenty cars behind you, this is not a good time to ask for directions. And if you do ask for directions, please don't start to pull away as I'm explaining the route to you. I used to play a game with people when they started to creep by just stopping mid-sentence and staring. If they stopped, I continued. If they kept moving forward, oh well. Dirty change was another one. We all understand that money is money, and we will accept your money, but this is a grimy job as is, without pennies coated in fast food grease, dirt, and other unidentifiable substances. Those are just some of the big ones.
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Sure! I actually was offered snacks from cars with some frequency. Don't get me wrong, there are a ton of very decent people out there and as long as it was sealed up or I felt okay about how it looked, I usually took it. Probably the best random act of kindness I encountered was from an older lady who gave me a twenty for her toll. She told me that she didn't want any of her change back, and to let the next people go on her. The look on the next few drivers' faces was priceless. I enjoyed it too, because toll collectors rarely get to give good news! One guy missed out though because he was in a big rush and just dropped his money into my hands and sped off without a word. Never hurts to say hello...
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At the time he asked I think it was around 2-3 in the morning and I wasn't particularly interested in getting into it with him. I think I muttered a 'yup', gave him his change and turned away. It stung. People find themselves in places for a myriad of reasons and to have that guy bring my entire life to judgement at that moment hurt.
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