Comments on: Token Sucking

Token Sucking

Artifice_Eternity — Mon, 28 Apr 2003 14:01:15 -0800

A Disgusting Practice Vanishes With the Token "Officially, the crime is classified as theft of Transit Authority property. But among transit police officers it is more accurately and less delicately known as token sucking. Unfortunately for everyone involved, it is exactly what it sounds like." (Originally from NYT. More here.)

By: carter

carter — Mon, 28 Apr 2003 14:10:59 -0800

Disgusting. And, according to the article: A related subway crime involved people who disabled the turnstiles and charged riders cut-rate fees to enter through the gates, to which they had stolen keys. These criminals, somewhat higher on the social ladder than token suckers, were known affectionately as trolls. So should a particularly bad troll therefore be called a token sucker?

By: PrinceValium

PrinceValium — Mon, 28 Apr 2003 14:20:14 -0800

"Anyways, I've kissed women that's worse." shudder.

By: Ufez Jones

Ufez Jones — Mon, 28 Apr 2003 14:24:56 -0800

Occasionally, methods other than incarceration were employed to dissuade the suckers. Token booth clerks were known to sprinkle chili powder into the token slots most often jammed. Some officers resorted to spraying a small amount of Mace around the regular slots and keeping an eye out for the usual suspects. The ones with bright red lips were then arrested. heh. Take a bite out of crime, indeed. nice link.

By: ZachsMind

ZachsMind — Mon, 28 Apr 2003 14:26:11 -0800

Here in downtown Dallas there used to be this parking lot where homeless people would hang around and convince people parking that they didn't have to put their money in the box because they were parking attendants. They looked like homeless people, but apparently some people were duped by them. I always just told them to get lost. We didn't have a name for them. Just false parking attendants. Now there's big signs all over the parking lot cautioning people that the lot in question has no parking attendant and if someone shows up posing as a parking attendant, to call the police, that's scared most of them away. This is yet another reason why I prefer having my own car to mass transit.

By: Joey Michaels

Joey Michaels — Mon, 28 Apr 2003 14:39:38 -0800

The link itself is good, but I like the Google Text Ads (that have appeared as a result of the word "troll" in the comments) even better. I am seeing ads for the Norway Troll Shop, The Complete Line of Russ Trolls, DAM good luck trolls and Enchanted Trolls. Sweet!

By: cortex

cortex — Mon, 28 Apr 2003 15:20:02 -0800

Bah. Ads are now about Personal Injury Law and (mostly) laptop security. Yer lucky. I can see a token sucker as a character in a David Foster Wallace story. Or maybe Tom Robbins.

By: Artifice_Eternity

Artifice_Eternity — Mon, 28 Apr 2003 15:45:31 -0800

I guess it's just another employment category lost to computerization...

By: moonbird

moonbird — Mon, 28 Apr 2003 20:21:26 -0800

Evolutionarily speaking, the current suckers will either die out or adapt to survival under the new conditions ( MetroCards ).

By: FormlessOne

FormlessOne — Mon, 28 Apr 2003 20:34:15 -0800

Yeah, but what pithy name will we apply to those who somehow circumvent the MetroCard system?

By: muckster

muckster — Mon, 28 Apr 2003 21:53:34 -0800

I hear there's a way to bend expired MetroCards a certain way that will dupe the readers. Don't know if it' true, and it certainly doesn't have the same ring to it, or the nice mental image.

By: shadow45

shadow45 — Mon, 28 Apr 2003 22:06:38 -0800

great link, that is so damn odd and amusing.

By: eddydamascene

eddydamascene — Mon, 28 Apr 2003 22:43:54 -0800

On June 4, 1973, in the San Francisco Chronicle (page 22), reporter Harris described how he was able to "boost" a 5-cent BART ticket to any value he wanted using an inexpensive scheme that Wattenburg had invented in a few hours. (*)

By: effugas

effugas — Tue, 29 Apr 2003 03:05:11 -0800

Everybody, read Eddy's post. Hell, it should be FPP. --Dan

By: notclosed

notclosed — Tue, 29 Apr 2003 04:18:36 -0800

Now there's big signs all over the parking lot cautioning people that the lot in question has no parking attendant and if someone shows up posing as a parking attendant, to call the police, that's scared most of them away. This is yet another reason why I prefer having my own car to mass transit. Because there's a problem with homeless people posing as parking attendants? I've never seen anyone pose as a token-booth clerk...

By: gottabefunky

gottabefunky — Tue, 29 Apr 2003 06:41:56 -0800

I remember hearing somewhere (maybe it was in Big Secrets) how people used to use Neco Wafers as quarter substitutes in toll booths and turnstiles.

By: chandy72

chandy72 — Tue, 29 Apr 2003 09:02:49 -0800

"Yeah, but what pithy name will we apply to those who somehow circumvent the MetroCard system?" Card Sharks?

By: PigAlien

PigAlien — Tue, 29 Apr 2003 09:03:18 -0800

So, what's the big secret in Eddy's post?

By: inpHilltr8r

inpHilltr8r — Tue, 29 Apr 2003 10:26:45 -0800

I'm guessing thermal transfer, and that one of the tape types easily available at the time (and since this was the 70s, you could buy a thousand different grades and formulations of reel to reel at Radio Shack) had just the right properties to allow you to do it with, say, an iron.