As I’m boarding an L train at Union Square I become aware of a loud clunking sound behind me. I sit down then turn back to see the source: a man is dragging an enormous, black trash bin onto the train. The bin reads ‘New York Department of Sanitation,’ and has a set of wheels and a flat top. The man shoves it into the middle of the car, then pulls a laptop out of his backpack, which he opens and sets on top of the bin as if it’s a desk surface. A large bandage is covering the man’s nose, and he’s wearing huge, Bluetooth headphones (the rest of his outfit consists in an oversized sports jersey and neon orange basketball sneakers). As the train departs he begins typing away furiously at his laptop, every now and then steeling furtive glances around the train car. When we pull into the next station he whips the laptop off the bin with one hand (not bothering to close it), jerks the bin out the car door and marches off, the clunking sound echoing down the mostly empty platform.