A Mighty Cold Day to Leave Your Pants at Home
Today was the 9th annual NYC No Pants Subway Ride, and it was a blast. Weather was beautiful, though a bit balmy at 28℉.
I was assigned to the 1 train, and due to the large number of people (at least 200 on the 1 alone), and a bit of misunderstanding, the group accidentally split up between two different trains. In the end it probably worked out okay, as that ensured there wasn’t an excessive number of pantless folks in each car.
On the journey to Times Square, the cars were still more than half full of agents, but it was absolutely hilarious to see everyone else’s reactions to what was going on. I was standing at the far end of my car, near a woman who was reading and didn’t notice the first three groups of agents de-pantsing. When I started to take mine off, she stared in horror, then proceeded to do a double-take down the car as she noticed a half dozen other pantless people. By the time I disembarked the train she had cracked a smile, but I can only imagine what was going through her head.
Upon arriving at Times Square, I followed a huge group of agents to the NQRW trains, passing through hundreds of people photographing us and a bunch police officers all standing in a group awestruck. I walked to the far end of the platform, where only a few agents were waiting for a southbound train, and took a spot near the MTA office, which was packed with employees snapping pictures and noticeably arguing about what was happening. Finally one guy approached me laughing, and queried about what we were all doing. I responded with “I forgot my pants today… ran out of the house in such a hurry. I’m such an idiot.” He started laughing and I asked him if he had an extra pair I could borrow. When he asked why there were so many others in their underwear, I said I had no idea, but it seemed like a forgetful kind of day.
The strangest part of my experience came on the ride to Union Square. We were supposed to take a southbound N train together, but I accidentally boarded the R instead. Apparently the other agents who started to get on with me noticed their mistake and hopped off. So I was the only pantless person on the train the entire time, and none of the passengers had any idea what was going on. Everyone stared, many giggled, but no one asked me what was up. At least four different people took video of me using their phones (oh, the age of always available video), and I’m sure many more took pictures. I winked at two when I got off at Union Square, but I guess I’m looking forward to seeing myself solo-pantless on Youtube in the near future…
All in all, a perfect day… everyone seemed to have a great time, and the mission was a resounding success!
