The Joys of Public Transportation: Mr Bogey

My commute to and from work is horribly long. In fact, if I drove, it would cost me roughly $20/day in gas to get to and from work. If I ride the bus, it only costs me $9/day. So if I take the bus every (week) day to work instead, I save rought $2800 a year. (This is all very general as gas prices obviously affect this number as do the number of sick/vacation days I use in a year.) I must also add that it probably saves us in costly wear and tear on our only car.

There are some really nice things about taking the bus:

1) I can fall back asleep during that 1 hour drive to and from work, if I wish or can.
2) I can do other things like legally talk on my cell phone, make grocery lists, knit, or read.
3) If there is bad traffic I don't have to deal with it directly.
4) As specified above, the money I save makes me happy.

BUT sometimes public transportation makes me long for the comfort of my own car:

1) The stinkiness of others can be stomach-churning at times.
2) When the bus is completely full (which is usually is) the quarters can be a little too tight for proper comfort.
3) The commute is longer due to extra stops and waiting in line for said bus.
4) Some people have really disgusting habits.

Now I feel I must vent about #4.

There is a man that rides my particular bus that I have dubbed "Mr Bogey." He makes me want to vomit. The man cannot leave his nose alone. He is constantly digging around up there. What's strange is that he's a typical nose picker - he uses his thumb instead of a finger. Now I've had plenty of time (unfortunately) to watch his technique and I cannot, for the life of me, figure out why the thumb would be a better option for nose picking. But enough of that because I'm grossing myself out by talking about it.

The other problem with Mr Bogey is that when he sits next to a person he's that guy that falls asleep very solidly and then proceeds to slump to one side, inevitably using the person as a pillow. Need I mention that when doing this his hands and nose are all boogery? I have had the misfortune of being his seatmate twice. At first I was trying hard to be polite, patient and tolerable - you know, Christ-like. But then I decided to embrace my flaws and now I elbow Mr Bogey everytime he slumps my way. When he snorts and wakes up I just smile pretty at him and act like I didn't do anything. Very mature of me, I know... but in my defense thumb-picking one's boogers isn't very adult either.