Friday Funny: How to Turn Your Subway Conductor's Frown Upside Down

Subway conductors, especially in New York, can be a gruff lot. And not without reason: they have a serious and essential job to do in very public, often stressful, conditions. To show their appreciation, two riders devised a way to make them smile.

November 1, 2013, 2pm PDT | Jonathan Nettler | @nettsj

"In New York City, subway conductors have to point at a black and white sign," explain Yosef Lerner and Rose Sacktor. "At every hour of the day. At every stop. On every train. Like they're some sort of automated robot that just happens to go home to families and children and processes complex human emotion."

"So Yosef Lerner and Rose Sacktor decided to have a little fun," writes Lacey Donohue. "Feeling sorry for the conductors who spend their whole day 'in that small booth, alone,' they [sic] duo decided to stand at subway stations in New York holding special signs knowing the conductors would have to point at them. The video results are pretty endearing."