Every day I ride the PATH train. Recently, we’ve been encouraged to begin using the new SmartLink card, which you simply tap at the turnstile to go through.
Hey, I’m an early adopter, so I got the card. And now they’re encouraging us to register our cards online. This allows you to automatically refill your card from home, while also allowing The Man to track your every move and eventually turn over this information to the robot overlords who will mercilessly hunt us down, and there is no escape, so don’t even try.
I digress. Anyway, sure, I registered the card. Name, address, email, serial number on card—no problem. Standard operating procedure.
Then it asked me to give my card a nickname.
A nickname? That one threw me for a loop. Hmmm. What to call it, what to call it? Not enough time to throw an origami contest. So I typed in the first thing that came to my head.
And now my SmartLink card is nicknamed… Rico Cardy.
Jack Silbert, curator