The suffering of the bus drivers

I really pitied the driver of the bus that I caught into town this morning. It was an express bus, which meant that it was prepaid only. (For those of you outside of Sydney, it means the driver will not sell you a ticket. You have to buy a prepaid ticket from a shop like a newsagency).

The poor driver went through hell. When I got on, a passenger was berating him and asking him to close his window (the bus was air conditioned, and I think the window was letting flies in). The driver told him that he felt a bit off, and if he got any worse, he'd stop the bus and get off, and that would be it.

You'd think the idiot passenger would have enough sense to leave it at that and sit down, but no. The fool had to keep on going. Hey, when I am driving my car, I am in charge. I make the rules, you obey. Idiot passenger should have been ejected onto the footpath.

At the next stop, two people try to buy a ticket from the driver. They somehow managed to miss the sign at the front of the bus that said "prepay only" and the big sign next to the door saying "prepay only". And for crying out loud, the bus stop was right outside a newsagency that had a big sign out the front saying "buy your bus tickets here". Idiots.

Then the driver encountered a number of pedestrians that decided to risk death by running across the road right in front of the bus. I almost lost my front teeth from head butting the back of the seat in front of me everytime he slammed on the brakes. The driver was bloody furious at them, and raised his blood pressure further by waving his arms at the idiots and tooting his horn. No wonder he didn't feel well.

Then we got onto Parramatta Rd, and the idiot woman in front of me pressed the stop bell, and then complained to the driver when he didn't stop at the next stop. He pointed out to her that it was an express bus (denoted by the big "express" sign at the front) and that the next stop would be Central. She returned to her seat with an expression on her face that said that she was going to complain right to the top about not being let off the bus where she wanted to get off. Idiot.

I was almost laughing by the time we got to my stop. I know that bad things come in three's, but that driver was copping it in 33's this morning. I thanked him for getting me into town in one piece, and told him that I sincerely hoped his day improved. At least that got him laughing.

It's nice to know that some people have much crappier days than me.