Why does it seem like officials are constantly embarrassing themselves on the internet these days? Well, it's probably because they are.
On Monday, the chief experience officer for the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority, Sarah Meyer, tweeted out a picture of a man’s crotch while, presumably, he was going to or from work. She wrote, “DC, do we really need to do a manspreading campaign on our trains?! I thought we were above this.”
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Meyer was angry that, due to his seating position, this random man was taking up two seats on the Metro. And I can’t blame her: It is perfectly reasonable to object to a person taking up more space than he needs — especially when you can see a woman standing beside him, who presumably couldn’t sit in that seat.
But more importantly, aside from what may be justifiable frustration with a fellow Metro-goer being inconsiderate with space, we should recognize this tweet as plainly bizarre behavior from an official. Whatever legitimate complaints she has about this random man’s seating decisions, her conduct is clearly much more invasive and disrespectful. That she is an official, and actually posted this to her own account, makes it doubly true.
Twitter users quickly pointed this out, asking her motivation in posting the picture and message, calling her a “creeper,” and accusing her of “shaming those who ride the very trains that employ her.” She quickly got “ratioed” as the number of negative comments rose.
Additionally, and more substantively, there are significant problems with the consumer experience on the Metro that a chief experience officer should probably be exclusively focusing on. For example, the number of aggravated assaults at Metro facilities has nearly doubled from 2018 to 2022. Robberies and larcenies also both have increased each year since 2020 after a drop-off due to the COVID-19 lockdowns. And after a recent shooting on the Metro, the Washington Post ran a headline reading, “Activists fear Metro violence becoming ‘normal.’” On top of all this, there is not only a bad homelessness problem across the district, but also in and around the Metro.
It seems like there's a long list of consumer experience problems on the Metro that Meyer can and should work on before pursuing her anti-manspreading campaign.
After the backlash, though, it looks like she recognized her error. In a follow-up message, she wrote: “My apologies for this tweet. It was meant in jest, but I understand how it might have offended some. I will do better and keep focused on what matters, better service, communications and wayfinding.”
This is clearly a good development. But, interestingly, she never deleted the tweet. She was clearly content with the picture of that man’s crotch living on Twitter forever, but earlier on Tuesday, Twitter decided to remove it.
Maybe that is really in the best interest of us all.
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Jack Elbaum is a summer 2023 Washington Examiner fellow.