JUST ONE OF THOSE DAYS
Had one of those days I wished I had just stayed home. Seemed like one thing after another went wrong.
It started before I even pulled the bus out of the garage. My antifreeze was hard to see through the little glass bulb. It looked like it was empty. We are no longer supposed to add it ourselves due to some additive that they started using that can burn you if it comes into contact with your skin. I told the mechanic that drives around on his cart during the AM pull outs that I needed the antifreeze checked. I went back to continue my pretrip (checks that you are required to do on the bus before you pull out). I had about 2 minutes left and the mechanic was nowhere to be found. I called the dispatch desk and they radioed him to send him over. I ended up pulling out about 5-6 minutes late...not a good thing.
I got onto the highway and the bus wouldn't go over 30 miles per hour and the "check transmission" light came on. I called the control center and explained the problem...not a good place to be going 30 MPH during rush hour...and they advised me to pull over and shut the bus off. I did so and when I restarted it the problem was fixed. It's always fun pulling into speeding rush hour traffic from the shoulder in a bus!!
The day seemed to be going better...but it was just fooling me.
I was pulled over making a bus stop and looked into my rearview mirror. Some fool in a white full sized van nearly hit the back of my bus. He swerved and missed it and seemed to realize he almost hit someone in the next lane over. He over-corrected and swerved back toward me. His mirror and my mirror met. His came totally off the van and landed in the street and mine got shattered. He slowed and seemed to be pulling over when all of the sudden he seemed to have changed his mind. He sped off. Like a fool, I didn't get the license plate. I did notice that it was one of those tax exempt state plates. I called control again and told them there was enough of a chunk of the mirror and the convex mirror was still attached that I could continue. The fix it guy met me at the other end and gave me a new mirror.
I figured the day would mellow...it didn't.
I asked a guy for ID who had gotten on using a monthly mobility pass. ID is required to use this form of payment. He said I don't check the white people (he was black) for ID and basically called me a racist. I got pissed. How dare he! If he rode my bus any length of time he would see I ask for ID from everyone that is required to show it. I found out why he chose to throw race into it...he didn't have proper ID. I was so flustered by this point, I didn't even have him pay a legitimate fare...that's not like me at all!! As he rode, he saw that I did ask EVERYONE paying the mobility fare for ID, regardless of color or anything else. This city and the route I was driving is very ethnically diverse. A racist wouldn't last long here, or as a bus driver in a big city period. By the time he was to get off, he realized he was being a jerk and apologized to me on the way off.
The funny thing was, he watched as a white teenage girl got on and put in a brand new monthly mobility card. I let it go in and stamp the date onto it, thereby activating it and starting the clock ticking on the month it may be used. I asked her for ID and she, of course, didn't have any. I told her it was a felony to do what she did and that she needed to pay a fare or hop off the bus. Her boyfriend was behind her waiting to put HIS mobility card in ( I saw it in his hand). They both got off. Then he realized the card had been punched with the date and yelled at the girl. She, in turn, turned to the bus and called me an f'en biotch. I smiled and drove off.
To top off the day, I got to go in and fill out the half hours worth of paperwork from the guy that hit my mirror and took off. I just wanted to go home at this point.
Well, it was just one of those days!! They make you appreciate the "normal" days when things go well!
It started before I even pulled the bus out of the garage. My antifreeze was hard to see through the little glass bulb. It looked like it was empty. We are no longer supposed to add it ourselves due to some additive that they started using that can burn you if it comes into contact with your skin. I told the mechanic that drives around on his cart during the AM pull outs that I needed the antifreeze checked. I went back to continue my pretrip (checks that you are required to do on the bus before you pull out). I had about 2 minutes left and the mechanic was nowhere to be found. I called the dispatch desk and they radioed him to send him over. I ended up pulling out about 5-6 minutes late...not a good thing.
I got onto the highway and the bus wouldn't go over 30 miles per hour and the "check transmission" light came on. I called the control center and explained the problem...not a good place to be going 30 MPH during rush hour...and they advised me to pull over and shut the bus off. I did so and when I restarted it the problem was fixed. It's always fun pulling into speeding rush hour traffic from the shoulder in a bus!!
The day seemed to be going better...but it was just fooling me.
I was pulled over making a bus stop and looked into my rearview mirror. Some fool in a white full sized van nearly hit the back of my bus. He swerved and missed it and seemed to realize he almost hit someone in the next lane over. He over-corrected and swerved back toward me. His mirror and my mirror met. His came totally off the van and landed in the street and mine got shattered. He slowed and seemed to be pulling over when all of the sudden he seemed to have changed his mind. He sped off. Like a fool, I didn't get the license plate. I did notice that it was one of those tax exempt state plates. I called control again and told them there was enough of a chunk of the mirror and the convex mirror was still attached that I could continue. The fix it guy met me at the other end and gave me a new mirror.
I figured the day would mellow...it didn't.
I asked a guy for ID who had gotten on using a monthly mobility pass. ID is required to use this form of payment. He said I don't check the white people (he was black) for ID and basically called me a racist. I got pissed. How dare he! If he rode my bus any length of time he would see I ask for ID from everyone that is required to show it. I found out why he chose to throw race into it...he didn't have proper ID. I was so flustered by this point, I didn't even have him pay a legitimate fare...that's not like me at all!! As he rode, he saw that I did ask EVERYONE paying the mobility fare for ID, regardless of color or anything else. This city and the route I was driving is very ethnically diverse. A racist wouldn't last long here, or as a bus driver in a big city period. By the time he was to get off, he realized he was being a jerk and apologized to me on the way off.
The funny thing was, he watched as a white teenage girl got on and put in a brand new monthly mobility card. I let it go in and stamp the date onto it, thereby activating it and starting the clock ticking on the month it may be used. I asked her for ID and she, of course, didn't have any. I told her it was a felony to do what she did and that she needed to pay a fare or hop off the bus. Her boyfriend was behind her waiting to put HIS mobility card in ( I saw it in his hand). They both got off. Then he realized the card had been punched with the date and yelled at the girl. She, in turn, turned to the bus and called me an f'en biotch. I smiled and drove off.
To top off the day, I got to go in and fill out the half hours worth of paperwork from the guy that hit my mirror and took off. I just wanted to go home at this point.
Well, it was just one of those days!! They make you appreciate the "normal" days when things go well!
posted by Jeanne Ree at 2:36 PM
2 Comments:
But you forgot to mention how the evening ended! Hopefully that made up for all the problems of the day!
Your turn to visit!
Bro JO
True - a visit from my favorite brother always fixes a bad day!!
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