Have you ever wondered if the emergency intercoms actually work in metrorail cars? Unless you’re seated toward the front or the back of a train car with an overly curious tourist child with an affinity for big red buttons, you may have asked this very question. We were on our way to work this morning on the Red Line when a man in a wide-brimmed hat and khaki shorts simply walked up, pressed the button and said (if we remember his name correctly) “Hey Ron!”

This DCist, and others seated around us, turned around in general bewilderment.

“Ron?!” the man said again.

The woman across the aisle from this DCist asked the man: “Is there an emergency?” The man didn’t respond.