Just realized my train buddy of 2 months doesn't know my actual name

This morning on the 7:45 to Union Station, the guy I always sit next to asked if I was doing okay. He said I looked tired. I told him it's been a rough week with my mom's surgery. He nodded and said 'hang in there, Dave.' My name is not Dave. I've been calling him Mark for two months and his badge says Marcus. We both just froze, then laughed for a solid minute. We still don't know each other's real names. Has anyone else had a commute friendship built on a made-up identity?

2 comments

2 Comments

the_faith4d agoMost Upvoted

Three train rides later and we still just nod when we see each other, best I can tell we're both too stubborn to fix the name thing now. It's kind of wild that we've shared more personal stuff, like his kid's soccer games and my mom's recovery, but the basic intro part just never happened. Honestly it makes the whole friendship feel more real somehow, like we skipped the boring small talk and went straight to the actual human connection part.

grant.felix3d ago

Wait, you've never even caught his name when someone else said it? That's wild. Bro, that's been three whole rides and you're still out here vibin' on anonymity, that's actually kinda impressive in a messed up way.