11.30.05

Playing chicken with a bus

Posted in Stuff at 23:25 by dalore

Damn some bus drivers can be rude. Some are nice, but the rude ones really stand out. For instance, at one of my bus stops, the bus stop is at the lights. Sometimes some of the rude bus drivers, close their doors, and move up and wait at the red light, some poor geezer would see the bus, run up to it and tap on the door to get in. Which is reasonable because the bus stop is at the lights, and the light is red. Its not even an main street interjuction, just some back alley light. Some of the rude bus drivers would just look at the poor people tapping and just shake their head. Heck, I’ve even had it done to me. It so frustrating looking at the bus you want to get on and they won’t let you. You gotta run to the next bus stop and hope he gets stuck at the lights. They must laugh when they pick you up at the next stop and your huffing and puffing. You could of just let me on back at the first bus stop, you didn’t have to be a cunt.

Well I’ve always thought, how could you get back at someone like that who holds the power? Then I thought, what if when he didn’t let you on, you just stood infront of the bus till he did? Surely he can’t just drive over you. I wanted to try it on the next bus driver that did it to me.

Little did I know I would get my chance, but at a different bus stop for different reasons. I had to go somewhere after work which was 25mins walk away for a little errand into the city. It was bloody freezing, so I thought I’d use public transport to get their quicker. To get there by tube needed a changing of line, and there was a bus just out front that took me there so I thought I’d wait for that instead. Buses come every 5-10 mins right?

Wrong

I waited what felt like 20mins for the bus. Several other busses passed, multiple times, but they weren’t the one I needed. Did I mention it was COLD. So finally I see my bus, and I try to wave it down. Imagine my frustration as he blindy doesn’t stop and continues on. I was furious. Lucky (or unlucky for him) he was stuck at the lights just 20meters down. So I ran down there and tapped on his window to let me on? He shook his head and said no? What the hell? Ok he wants to play games, so I go stand in front of the bus. He trys tapping the accelrator to move forward and scare me, but I hold me ground. We wait for a while, the lights change full cycle. I go up to his window, trying to stay infront so he can’t drive forward, and ask him again to let me on as I was waiting at the bus stop and he didn’t stop. He tries to tell me I wasn’t at the bus stop. Bit more arguing ensues, so I go back, Arthur Dent style, in front of the bus. I attempt another negotiation, but he starts flicking switches on the top of his panel and on the roof. It looked like he was signalling for the police or something, maybe they got a quick switch for trouble against a bus driver. So I figure, stuff it, he won’t let me on. I start walking away, he flashes his lights at me. I turn around and walk back and he opens the door and lets me on.

He tells me to stand there next to the window as he drives off. We have a discussion, I assure him I was waiting at the bus stop for 20mins, in the cold, waving at him when he passed. He said I wasn’t there and that, am I telling him he isn’t doing his job because his job is to see people at the bus stop and stop for them. He also told me that my life wasn’t worth risking for a bus ride, there is always another one 5 mins behind. So I counter with that I’ve been waiting for 20mins, that its bloody freezing, and I reiterated that I was at the bus stop, waving at him. Eventually he apoligised and said I could go sit down, I apoligised also as it was the right thing to do. Funny, noone on the bus said anything or even cared, or moved a muscle during this whole thing. Typical stone face Londoners on public transport.

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