The Cute Boy on the CTA

It’s my birthday today, so of course I’m off to the amazing Polish salt caves of northern Chicago with my friend Liz, and I’m therefore gonna forgo the whole critical engagement with the ad industry thing and just tell you a story.

So a couple days ago, I was riding the train, when a super cute boy got on with a camera, and started obsessively taking pictures of the grocery store-chain advertisement directly above my head. So I said,

Why, hello.

But because he had some kind of personal music player going, he totally did not hear me. And then after about 57 more pictures, he took the earphones out of his ears and said,

What?

I said, You just took practically a whole roll of film of that ad. Why?

He said, Oh. God. It is so dumb. I work for the ad department of the CTA, and that’s a new ad, and I have to document it.

You did a pretty good job, I told him.

Yeah. I eat, sleep, and breathe ads. Seriously.

Oh, ha ha, I said. So do I. But kinda by accident.

I hate it. Hate it. Fucking hate it. Hate it.

Ummm, I said.

And then he stormed off to take more pictures in a different car of the train.