Is the MBTA's 'Be Nice' Campaign Actually Working?

We’ve all seen the not-so-new-anymore MBTA ads, where mock headlines ask us to give up our seats to preggo ladies, cover our mouths when we sneeze, and clean up after ourselves when we exit the train/bus/etc.

All of this got me thinking on Wednesday at the Green Line’s Symphony station when I spotted a man’s wallet, abandoned, on a bench. Seeing as how no one is ever on duty at Symphony to accept such an item as lost and found, I decided to commit, pick it up, and gather the flashbulbs you can find out from a stranger’s wallet: state of residence (New Hampshire), age (early 20s), occupation (student, probably), and income level (a few bucks and some plastic). That turned out to be just enough info to find a likely match via Google and have a tweet and an e-mail sent out by the time we reached Brigham Circle — not even my final destination.

We connected (power of social media, am I right?), and made arrangements for the hand-off at the office, where we exchanged our laughs, said our pleasantries, and moved on.

That’s until earlier today, when the owner of the wallet — suddenly feeling decadently rich again — sent over a bouquet of beautiful roses and a card as a thank you. Seriously, nice guy, right?

For every time something like this happens, there could be about a dozen stripped-out purses and wallets floating around the terminal, or a kid puking on your flip flops (which also did happen to me on the Green Line). But that doesn’t matter. In this city, hating on the T is a second only to hating on the Red Sox, but I don’t care — because I’m one of at least two people who are seeing the world through rose-colored glasses today, thanks to a complete stranger from the T.