Hi Everyone,
On the Buses is a British Comedy. As a kid I used to watch it all the time. LOVED, LOVED, LOVED IT!!! I have included two links for, On The Buses, at the bottom of the blog.
This blog is about my being on the buses and a very interesting conversation I had with a bus driver about 10 years before.
One day a bus driver who I knew from taking the buses let me sit on his bus while he we waited for the GO train to arrive. As we waited I asked him about the new fare increase. He told me he wasn’t exactly sure but he gave me an estimate and advised me to bring a bit more money just in case he was wrong.
I thanked him and asked, “So what happens if people don’t know about the fare increase? Some people only bring their bus fare to work or wherever they are going?”
His response was very interesting, “If the bus driver knows you because you take the bus every day or a lot, they will let you know. But for people we don’t see every day or enough times before the increase, they are kind of out of luck.”
“You know when I first started out as a bus driver I would feel sorry for people. I would make up the difference for the people that I saw every day or a lot. I knew I would see them again and they would pay me back. Back then the increase was like, a nickel or a dime. At the end of the shift I would shell out, from my pocket, let’s say a buck. I didn’t mind. I saw these people a lot. Some of them would bring me coffee or something to eat even before the increase. They were like friends. You know.
“That was okay. But then I would get these people, when there WASN’T a fare increase, and they would be like, ‘Yea, I just made a call and now I am short a dime.’ (This was a long time ago) or use another excuse as to why they didn’t have enough money. And then they would just look at me. Like they wanted me to pay the difference. I did that a few times, but the money came out of MY pocket at the end of my shift. By the end of the week that could add up if I let it. But I didn’t.
“Instead, I would ask them, ‘So what’s more important? Making a call, spending all of your money or getting on the bus?’ Some of them would just stare at me while they thought it over. A few of them said, ‘Getting on the bus, I guess.’ Then I would say, ‘If you want to get home, than you guessed right.’
“They would either get off the bus or someone else would make up the rest of THEIR fare for them. Even though they heard me ask the question. And that’s the problem with some people. They do whatever with their money or their lives and THEY EXPECT other people to pick up the pieces or pay for them. They don’t have their priorities straight.”
“I know what you mean. I know a few people like that.” Even as he was speaking, my mind ran down the list of people that I knew who behaved in that manner. Most of them I no longer spoke to or associated with. I would see some of them because of work or just being out and about.
I don’t remember ever seeing that bus driver after our conversation. Bus drivers have their schedules change all the time. But I have to admit, that conversation stuck with me. It probably will for the rest of my life. I wrote a related blog called, I HATE To Be Inconvenienced. Here’s the link, http://arebelsrant.com/i-hate-to-be-inconvenienced/
This is a polite rant in more ways than one.
The first link is for a short excerpt to, On The Buses. It is 6:50 minutes in length. Here is the link,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PddFK3q6Ui4
The second link is for the full episode. It is 24:45 minutes in length. Here is the link,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5i37STzQv2Y
Both of the links are from an episode called, “No Smoke Without Fire!” You can click onto other, On The Buses, videos on the side bar. If you click on one or both of the links, I hope that you enjoy it/them as much as I did. 🙂
Thank you for reading, A. Rebel’s Rant! ;D
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