Comments on First Day on the Job

I don't see any gloves in that photo.

I love this intern already.

it must have been staged -- he mentioned he had gloves. but yes, that freaked me out at first.

First post, first controversy. Steven gets in at 2:30. We'll grill him then.

And in the meantime, anyone got something for Steven to do this afternoon?

Ditto #1. No gloves? Poor kid.

Bathe the homeless??

He also appears to be touching the seat with his bare knees. Does the Stranger extend medical coverage to interns?

NO FAIR!!! I use the #65 all the time to get from my place (near 70th and 35th to U-Village) That is almost always a clean bus!! NO FAIR!!!! HE CHEATED!!!!! He did not clean a NASTY Metro bus!!!! And he picked it up by Top Pot Donuts. Trust me there are not many freaks on that bus!!!

But that just means the Stranger will hire him full time.

Hm... maybe we should send him out again.

awww, so helpful and industrious....

I hate cleaning with gloves on. My hands get super sweaty. Maybe that's why he has none on in the pic.

Can you suggest a dirtier bus, Cato?

How about sending him out to clean a few bus shelters? Let's give him more gloves and some Windex this time (409 ain't gonna work on windows)

He should definitely have to clean a bus that goes through downtown.

Next project? "Adjust" this camera?

And did he have someone helping him? Who snapped the pic???

The 49!

Send him on the infamous 174... have him ride it all the way to 320th St. in Federal Way... that's a dirty, freak-filled bus. It makes the 49 look tame.

He should restripe a crosswalk somewhere on Cap Hill where the paint has faded.

#14's idea was really good actually, you should have him clean up some of Broadway's bus shelters. Like the one in front of Hot Topic, by Republican St. He WILL need gloves.

Have him hand out dixie cups full of water and cheer on the joggers around Green Lake or by the sculpture park, like they do at marathons.
Or give out blaze orange safety vests and smokes to the day laborers who hang out under the Viaduct on Western Ave by the Millionair Club.

In his defense, he did take the initiative to clean the side of a trash can outside as well. Or so he says. I see no photographic evidence of it.

I would like him to make regular phone calls to the guys who hang around the pay phone at the corner of Union and 24th, across the street from Key Bank and Thompson's. It would either result in the frequent pay phone patrons abandoning the use of the phone or the lost innocence of the intern.

my favorite part is the response he had conjured up for the bus driver.

also, if he's gonna be cleaning stuff, maybe we need a before and after picture?

finally, i agree with frank @22.

i can think of a few street corners that could use a good crossing guard for the evening commute... think of the adults!

He should come give water to the bikes and pedestrians at the Seattle likes Bikes event this evening.

What, past his work hours? C'mon, he's an intern!

@23

Right on! I'd like to see him interview the bum with the butt-drugs from http://seattlealleywatch.blogspot.com/. I've seen him around Cap Hill a couple times since seeing this blog posting. Does this guy know there are pictures of him smoking ass-crack online?

Steven, your head is too big. Or maybe it's just your hair, I can't tell.
Fortunately, this is just the job that won't inflate it any more.
Keep up the good work.

OMG, we have another gay working here! Well, elsewhere, but still.

@ Dan Savage. He needs to hit the #49 (always nasty) any of the Buses in the 70 series from downtown to the U-District (LOTS of bumbs and drug addicts)

I think he should be on 24 hour Susie Burke duty and every time he sees her, he will explain to her 1) just why Stone Way is not an industrial corridor and 2) describe in graphic detail what happens when a car strikes a bicyclist.

I love the Greenlake jogger water-dispensing idea! Have him cheer them along too.

I think he should spend an afternoon translating for the guy who shouts "SEATTLE POLICE IS COMMMM-UNNN-ISSST" to Bus 49 riders outside Pacific Place.

I think he should walk up and down in front of the "Trail Closed" barricade where they have the Burke-Gilman Trail closed in Fremont, with a sign that says "Sk8rs R001!"

It would be fun.

A job well done, though I do not understand why you were so worried about the bus driver.

I honestly believe you could bring a naked child on the bus, fuck it, kill it, and throw it out the window, and nobody would care. Especially the bus driver.

forget greenlake. the kid should provide late night weekend resfreshments to those in harborview's waiting room. that would be so nice.

all of these suggestions are going to look really suh-weet on Mr. Blum's intern progress report (and later, on his resume).

I think the bus driver would likely be grateful. The only two times I was on a bus that the driver stopped and chastised or kicked someone off both involved substances. One was smoking crack, and the other was falling down drunk and singing "Dixie."

@36: now THAT is a worthy assignment. Steven would get great karma points AND a good story.

I think public intern should sweep the street in front of pony, since so many readers go there. maybe even get a pressure washer, and get the gum off.

WOOT. I LOVE public intern.

just make sure you use a broom and not a leaf blower...

Public Intern should attempt to clean the 174 (but only after 11pm!) or the 106/107. What about going to one of the exotic meat places, buying one of every animal, then making him taste-test each one? Or dressing him up as a Mormon missionary and turning him loose on the Pike/Pine corridor on a Friday night? Interviewing the crazy guy outside Pacific Place?

The possibilities for Public Intern are endless and intriguing!

Tasting meat is not a public service though. Let him taste meat on his own time.

Send him out sweeping up cigarette butts outside of nightclubs, like Pioneer Square or the stretch of 2nd north from the Crocodile. Make him wear a little hat -- a paper one, or a plastic hard-hat -- and a reflective vest.

I've got a job for that intern.

Perhaps the Public Intern could give meals to supposedly hungry panhandlers on Broadway and report back whether they then go away or not.

Thanks for nothing, unpaid public intern! I had to look it up for myself, and meanwhile you went and exposed a busload of riders to 2-butoxyethanol ... and all the reproductive system damage that implies.

Next assignment: Go out and clean up 3rd & Pine?

“People can shit their pants on the bus but I can’t 409 the floor?”

Zing!

Stevie, sweety...$1.25? Seriously? I was still paying fifty cents at almost 23. Just smile and look lost. I´m sure you´d be great at that. Great work on the cleaning!

Make him deliver copies of The Stranger to the South Renton Park 'n Ride. :)

what's Blum's graduating year? '06 or '07? Cause I've seen him at Roosevelt when I was there

Good Job Public Intern! When you run out of things in Seattle, you should take a trip down to Portland! I don't see you running out of work soon though. Can't wait to see your next job!

I think the intern task was awesome. And I love his thought out response if busted by the bus driver.

Keep up the good work and all that jazz.