mailroom deadline moved up

 when a mailroom employee brought the empty tubs to the shop, i was informed that the deadline to send the regular mail tubs at the end of the workday was moved up. not by much, under an hour. i copied my boss and a senior leader about it, and the mailroom boss did let them know it was due to expected protest activity in the area. in the end, not a big deal to me. the volume was low, as it typically is for a Friday. i got started on the overnight labels a little earlier, and the afternoon run of the inserter machine started earlier as well. and it helped that the second i-pay file of the day was on time, and low volume. it was seven checks, three were special handling. i didn't get home any earlier than typical, though. many of the protesters were using the light rail, and the first attempt to get home was a no-go because the train was already full. i got on the next train though. i waited inside and walked around a little. i did see two fellow comics as i was making the second attempt to get on a train. i did not say that i worked downtown, nothing wrong with being tight-lipped about why i was there at that time. i hadn't seen either one in a while, and i think one of them is not even a Facebook friend. some fellow comics being part of the protest crowd, now that didn't surprise me much. i also noticed another protester talking to a security guard for this building. why, i don't know. it was hard to ignore how it wasn't the typical workday for me. when i was walking through the skyway in the morning to get to Walgreen, i saw many signs up saying 'closed due to the general strike'. some appeared to be closed for the entire day; others were going to close early. most of these places i haven't been in or rarely go into. it was another day of leaving my car at home due to the subzero weather. when i was waiting to transfer, there was a nearby vending machine and i got two packs of salami sticks instead of one. in the evening i made a stop at Aldi just before closing time and picked up four items. i still might go to Hy-Vee this weekend though. i said i feel like i am living out my version of 'forrest gump', being a witness to history, a fly on the wall so to speak. i got this feeling when on the train, looking at my expression in the mirror when knowing most of the passengers were likely protesters. then there was seeing fencing around the federal building on the light rail line.