Last Updated on: 21st April 2015, 10:36 am
Today I had the weirdest bus ride. I got on a pretty quiet bus and it started to drive. It stopped to pick someone up and he got on the bus and showed his transfer. The driver said thanks and the guy walked away. The driver caught his attention and asked him to please either put the transfer in the garbage or give it to him. The passenger looked at him and walked away. The driver yelled for him again and said, “The rule is put the transfer in the garbage or give it to me. You can’t ride around all day on the same transfer.” Like duh. Where does that even work? The passenger responded with, “No. I want to keep my transfer as proof of payment.” At this point, we all wonder what this guy’s problem is. The driver asked him once more for the transfer and said if he didn’t do it, he’d have to call the police. I understand why, since in the last while, bus drivers have been beaten up by people who try to get on the bus with an invalid transfer and the driver says no. Come on, people, a bus ticket is 2 bucks. I mean, with the whole blinky thing, we don’t have to pay the bus fare, but even if I did have to pay it, I don’t think I’d be so poor and desperate that when a bus driver said I couldn’t ride and had to pay 2 bucks, I’d hurt him.
Anyway, back to our friendly neighbourhood weirdo. The passenger still said no. Now we definitely think he’s weird, because if the driver’s willing to call the police, why fight him over a stupid transfer? Is that little slip of paper really all that valuable? So the driver calls the police, and the passenger goes into this crazy rant about how the driver only wants to punish him because he hates his job, how stupid this is, why in hell would he call the police, etc. So we sit pulled over to the side and, after about 5 minutes, long enough to make everybody miss their buses downtown, the police officer comes on board. What follows makes me feel like I’m in an episode of To Serve and Protect, except nobody seems drunk. He asks the driver and passenger what’s wrong. When he gets to the passenger, Mr. Weirdo starts using all these way too official words. “Sir, if I’d only had the procedure explained fully to me, I would have had no issue with cooperating. I only want to reach my final destination, sir.” Seriously, what’s with that? Whenever you see people who look like total slobs on the People’s Court, especially slobs who are obviously in the wrong, they use all these needless, big words as if they’ll somehow impress the judge and make her say, “You’re just too smart to lose your lawsuit.” This looked like what the guy on the bus was trying to do. The police officer just cut him off and told him either handover the transfer or get off the bus. He grudgingly handed over the transfer and then the officer asked the driver if he was ok with the guy riding to wherever he wanted to go, after taking the weirdo’s name and birth date, and he said he was. Now, think about that. Because this idiot wouldn’t hand over a slip of paper, he’s written down in police files for causing a disturbance. I know it’s not a huge thing, but that whole pile of crap could have been so easily avoided.
As the police officer left, I thought to myself, “Damn! I wanted to see him drag our weird passenger friend off the bus!” At the same time, I realize thatI’m evil for thinking that. So what a needless waste of our time, the police officer’s time and the driver’s time! How hard could it have been to just do what he asked? I almost think this situation was more stupid than the screaming freak incident!