Finger has healed, on to bigger and better
things these days. Took the wife's birthday off yesterday and
realized that it was my first paid day off since my last job was
outsourced over four years ago! It was lovely lounging around,
watching a movie, baking a cake and making her birthday dinner of
Eggs Benedict. Best and tastiest Hollandaise sauce I've ever created!
With my own birthday sneaking up on me soon, I can think of a dozen
meals my beloved might create for me. But in the meantime it's been
too long since I tortured y'all, so it's time for another long-winded
tome before I head out again.
The other night it rained. Hard. First
time in about three months, and it was nice. Lightning, thunder, the
works. As I rolled up to the Burnside Bridge I looked out across the
river at my adopted hometown and realized just how much I LOVE
PORTLAND! Its people, the scenery, the strangeness that makes
Portland so fun a city to live in. Then a couple of people boarded
and began berating each other. Sigh. It was nice while it lasted!
My bus riders are each treated to a
smile and a greeting when they board. It is my belief that they are
each entitled to a smooth, trouble-free ride to their destination.
With two of them arguing it makes the rest of us uncomfortable. I was
in no mood for trouble. It was a holiday for crying out loud! People
should have been laid back, as 99% of them were, not crabby. So I
told them both to knock it off, politely. Then the back-and-forth
continued, this time about whose fault it was they were arguing. I
stopped and informed them my bus is not the place for their petty
grievances. Both plead innocent, blaming the other for the problem. I
maintained they were both assholes (not using that descriptive
word, of course), and that if their shenanigans continued I would
commence singing for their assigned torture and punishment. So one of
them began singing a sordid tune, his tone made worse by the amount
of alcohol he had consumed. Big mistake. The other then complained
about his choice of entertainment.
Surely you are expecting a fiery end to
this incident, but luckily the first rider exited the next stop. It
should have ended the problem, but then the other decided he should
move closer to the driver and berate me for letting the other harass
him. I calmly told him it takes two to tango, and that I merely drive
the 40,000 pound behemoth down the road. I'm not a referee, nor will
I take sides. His tone made me nervous and reminded me of another
drunk I had been closely associated with earlier in life. But I
calmly let him know that how others affect him is his own
responsibility, and all I ask is people be respectful of others while
I drive. Then he exited, muttering expletives under his .25-something
BAC breath. I closed the door before he could finish and continued
on.
So far I've been lucky (knock on wood).
I just began full time this past week. New routes, longer and later
hours than usual. It takes a lot out of a person. When you have the
“problem rider”, it tests your patience, customer service, and
survival skills. It is hard enough to drive a bus without your cargo
acting up. I have only encountered the occasional grouchy rider, and
I don't know how I'll handle the severe cases until they rear their
ugly heads. Hopefully my father's calm side will overshadow my
mother's fiery Irish blood.
Now that I'm full time, the luck of the
draw has me driving out of the Merlo garage, which is 26.4 miles from
my home. My seniority number is at the bottom of the barrel, so
that's how the crumbs fall. Luckily the routes I have won't be too
bad (except one day on the 4), and it's only for three months until
the next signup allows for others to slip in below me. In the
meantime, the work at the Center garage continues. The MAX Orange
line construction is proceeding, along with the remodel of the Center
main building, which was built in the mid-70s. It's a mess over
there, as you can see in the photos. So the bright side is I can find
a parking spot easier. Once I finally get there!
It was great that team bus driver was
able to fully and safely evacuate her burning bus on Highway 26 the
other night. Kudos to her for acting quickly and decisively for the
safety of her students. However, it meant that all westbound traffic
out of downtown was completely stalled for over two hours while it
was cleaned up. I was stopped on Burnside for over two hours, with
nothing to do but wait it out. Luckily I didn't need to pee. I was
hungry and my knee hurt, but my riders gradually got the picture and
abandoned ship. So it was just the two of us: a dear lady trying to
get to Fred Meyer before it closed, and myself. She boarded on Couch
just before the bridge for what should have been a 10 minute ride. So
we introduced ourselves and made the best of the situation. Luckily
traffic moved and she was able to make it there with time to spare.
Unfortunately, it took two hours longer than she bargained. All the
route's westbound buses were also stuck on the same road, so no east
bounders passed us for over an hour. When I finally arrived at the
end of the line, it was at the same time I would have ended my route.
Only my route ends at the opposite end from where I was. It had been
over four hours since I'd had a break. My knees were screaming along
with my empty stomach and full bladder. So after a short break I
called Dispatch for instructions. Just as I figured, they asked me to
make one more eastbound trip to make up for the two hours it wasn't
running. No big deal, it was overtime buck$ for me! Sure was hungry
when it was over though. Need to bring more snackage with me. I keep
learning every day.
There have been some sweet folks riding
lately, but I haven't driven the routes long enough to establish
relationships yet. School is back in session and I love to tease
kids, as I have three of my own. Maybe I'll have some fun today, who
knows? Apologies for not having an overly-interesting entry this
time, but I'm just out there doing a job. Until next time... thanks
for reading and be safe out there.
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