HE REMEMBERS ME

I've been doing ten and a half hour days on the 6 line for the last couple weeks. Normally, the 6 is pretty tame. My first trip on Monday, I wasn't so lucky.

These two guys get on with transfers from the light rail station. Both were for Mobility passengers so I asked for ID. The one guy said, "don't you remember me?" I did recognize him not only as a frequent passenger, but from being around back in my wild girl days a couple decades ago. I told him I didn't remember if he had ID. He did. The other guy got mad and said "This is the same bitch that got me before." I told him he'd have to pay the $2 fare, hop off the bus or I could call the transit police. I explained it is a felony and the minimum he'd get would be a $180 fine and possibly a trespass notice. This bans you from any bus, shelter or other transit property for a month. The max penalty is something like 3 years in prison and $5000 fine. (Mental block - it's either that or 5 yrs prison/$3000 fine)

The guy was mad and put his $2 in. He cussed a little as he headed towards the back of the bus to find a seat. The bus was full of yuppies going home from work. It was rush hour. They found a seat across from the back door. I ignored the cussing, figuring they'd tone it down once they were seated. These guys just like to make a grand entrance.

It was relatively quite as I drove along. Then I looked into the mirror and saw the fare cheater drinking a beer! I immediately got on the microphone and said " I know you aren't back there drinking a beer!" He just looked at me. He knew he was busted. I pulled the bus over and said "I'm done. This is your stop. You need to just take your beer and hop out the back door." Surprisingly, they obeyed! They put up a little fuss, but not too much. As the fare cheater was going out the door, he decided to hang half inside the bus and yell "I remember you from a long time ago. You used to smoke crack..." I was shocked and kind of caught off guard. I just said "Whatever, bye bye. You have a great day." Or something to that effect.

I wasn't sure if I wanted my passengers to all know about my past. It was true. A couple decades ago I was a wild girl and I did have a drug problem. Maybe I should have yelled back "Yep, that's me! Now I'm drug free. I own my own home and my own car and I have a great job that I love and it comes with benefits and a retirement plan. And you? You are still a loser drinking a beer in the back of a bus." I had decided to just leave it alone.

I did get about half a dozen people that thanked me for kicking them off. Many say they wished other drivers would do that type of thing more often. I always appreciate when passengers show they appreciate what I do. In fact, I've kicked off others in these last couple weeks for their language and the passengers are very grateful. They've been getting on lately asking if I kicked anyone off today.

It's good to be recognized...sometimes!

DADDY'S LITTLE GIRL

I was driving the 6 route last week and was on a layover at Fuddruckers hamburger place. I went in to use the restrooms. They have a game I like to play too...you use a claw to grab stuffed animals. I give the ones I win to the kids on the bus. It's fun.

Anyway, they have good old music in this place. The song playing when I walked in was "tonight, gonna make this a night to remember..." then I see this chunky little girl about 10 years old. She was wearing a sun dress and dancing on a pole!! The seating area they were going to eat in had a floor-to-ceiling pole and she was swinging on it like a stripper. I thought it was pretty funny. I can only imagine her fathers reaction when he came back to the table and saw his little girl acting like that. I'm sure it was a night he'll remember!

STATE ROADEO

I recently went with a few other drivers to cheer on our 2 competitors at the State Roadeo Competition in Bemidji. One of our guys got 2nd place !! ( WAY TO GO, DARRELL!!!)

We spent a few days there, just having fun. We were quite disappointed to get to the competition and find we actually missed cheering on our guys! The long bus competition (which they are in) was first this year. It was last last year. Needless to say, we were quite bummed out. It was raining and nasty out but we decided to set up our chairs...and table...(one girl brought it and couldn't wait to set it up. It was just a rain catcher...we had nothing to put on it! At least she got to see her new toy, not quite in action however.) We "cheered" the short bus competition. We sat near the end of the course where they drive fast through lines of large construction barrels. They are supposed to get between them without hitting any and then make a quick stop and end up within 6 inches of a construction cone in front of them without hitting it.

The more barrels they knocked over, the louder we cheered. Then we practiced our Princess and Queen waves (like they wave in parades) at the carts that would drive by. We got real creative and did "the wave" (like at football games) with our umbrellas for the carts too. We were just having fun to lighten our disappointment at missing our guys competition...the whole reason we went in the first place!

Later at the Awards Banquet we were all sitting around a table with an old guy and his wife that we befriended last year. One of the judges went up to speak. We were only half paying attention. He started off by thanking everyone for being out there on such a nasty weather day and thanking the judges for standing out there in the rain. Then he started talking about something that made him smile through the rain..."There were four young ladies..." We started looking at each other like kids that got busted doing something wrong. He was talking about us! He continued .. "...in Hecklers Row who cheered the drivers for knocking down barrels! The more they knocked down, the more they cheered..." We did what we felt was expected and cheered loudly. The guy looked shocked. When we spoke to him later he said he didn't realize that we were there.

Now we have a title. Hecklers Row. We are already planning for next year in Albert Lea. We plan to wear feather boas and tierras and cheer with pom poms. We may even make score cards with numbers 0 - 10 to flash as the drivers pass...of course OUR guys will get all 10's...no matter what! The organizer for the event in Albert Lea was there. We joked that we might make the news. She said with the planned outfits, we will probably make the front page of the newspaper.

It's good to have goals.....hehehehehe.

I'm looking forward to our 2008 Roadeo Competition (which decides who goes to International/State next year) It is in mid-september...wish me luck!

I'M BACK !!!!!

Sorry I've abandoned you all for so long. It started out with a home improvement project and more recently became a mixture of computer problems and laziness.

I am pleasantly surprised to see so many of you still here! Thank you for your loyalty. I'll try to be more like you!