> I wonder how much more annoying this was back in the days before cell phones? With my cell phone, I was able to send text messages to the friend who was going to pick me up in Tacoma, updating him on our progress so he could do a good job of figuring out when he actually needed to be there.
In the days before cell phones, trains still stopped frequently enough, and for long enough, at stations with public phones that you could let people know, and, in addition, the frequence of late arrivals of trains (and the same is true of aircraft) was such that it was fairly common practice to call the destination station (airport) and inquire about the expected arrival time of an incoming train (flight) if you wanted to mitigate the risk of hanging around and waiting.
If anything, the age of near-ubiquitous instant communication in your pocket has made things like this more annoying, because its shifted people's expectation of control and knowledge.
In the days before cell phones, trains still stopped frequently enough, and for long enough, at stations with public phones that you could let people know, and, in addition, the frequence of late arrivals of trains (and the same is true of aircraft) was such that it was fairly common practice to call the destination station (airport) and inquire about the expected arrival time of an incoming train (flight) if you wanted to mitigate the risk of hanging around and waiting.
If anything, the age of near-ubiquitous instant communication in your pocket has made things like this more annoying, because its shifted people's expectation of control and knowledge.