On Thursday,
OGLE, a rider on Toronto's transit system posted a photo of a ticket booth collector enjoying a deep snooze at work, then sent it out on Twitter. It then went viral. It showed up in my feed a few times that day, I laughed and passed it along. By the next morning it was all over the media, gracing front pages and websites.
The TTC
sprung into damage control, vowing to investigate, while the ticket collector's union went the unusual route of blaming the photo taker: "It is very discouraging that the picture taker and, apparently, other customers, made no attempt to determine if there was anything wrong with this TTC employee," said Bob Kinnear, president of the Amalgamated Transit Union.
"A simple knock on the glass might have determined if the collector was, in fact, asleep, or whether he was unconscious as a result of some medical problem."
He's clearly not dead, just enjoying a good nap. The interweb responded (above, via
@boyreporter) and soon the now dubbed TTCSleeper started showing up everywhere...
Ahh, it's so nice that Homer finally found a compatible work buddy. Lenny and Carl are great, but they don't know how to relax. Sector 7G has never been in better hands. (Oswald Cobblepot! via
Keadin)
indigirl had another explanation for the incident — perhaps he wasn't snoozing, but just having his brain remapped. Is the TTC a Dollhouse?
Meanwhile
JakenBear still wasn't sure that the ticket collector wasn't dead and cast a new Weekend at Bernies sequel. Yay.
The Death Star trash compactor? Wow, that guy can sleep though anything.
I'd never noticed the TTCSleeper in Edward Hopper's Nighthawks before, but he does fit in rather well.
And once there was a TTC Sleeper Last Supper this meme was in full force. From Hugh Elliott at
wheniwas19. See
more photoshops at Mondoville.
Beware of social media, folks, it can bite you in the ass. Funny too.
Previously on Popped Culture...
Suddenly Last Supper
Breakfast Hawks
Teh Lolcats Theme Song
