It's Wet Here, Raining Even Harder

Deke's Note: Today marks the beginning of a weeklong May-StayCation for the road-weary Deke. There have been so many changes in policy lately my head is truly spinning. All has been meant to keep COVID-19 cases low as a result of riding transit. However, the spin seems more intent on protecting everyone BUT the operator. And yeah, I'm pissed. Again.

Dear GM,

Thanks for requiring and providing us with face masks and hand sanitizer, limiting passenger loads and adding public service announcements on our vehicles. Other than that, do you even know what dangers we face? No. You have never done our job. You're hopelessly ignorant of our perils, but I give you a B- for effort. I asked you a while back to do what you recently did, so I am grateful. To a point. Problem is, you're reactive rather than proactive. Leadership requires you to think ahead and takes steps to protect those whose safety you're entrusted with. Instead, you gingerly test the waters and then act. Unfortunately, it's a bit too little too late for us.

To only have one operator in Portland test positive is encouraging. However, we should ALL be tested, because regardless of the current political trend to avoid testing many for fear "the numbers could rise", WE are afraid many of us could have COVID-19 and not even know it. I am one of those. If WE mattered one damn bit, you would insist we ALL be tested, before anyone takes control of a transit vehicle. Operators, Supervisors, Road Mechanics and everyone in Operations should be immediately tested, every week. Those who test positive should be put into immediate quarantine, with FULL pay. You just received nearly $200 million from the federal government, and we expect it to cover ALL costs of this pandemic, not just to your beloved Capital Projects.

Portland eagerly awaits to be awakened again.

What good is a Purple Line to Tigard when few want it, the cost increases every day, while your frontline workers brave the viral public? You put out directives which threaten us with punishment if we deny boarding to any pseudo-badass who refuses to wear a mask. God, I wish this transit agency would grow some you-know-whats and enforce ever-weakening transit code, for once. It sure would be nice to see more "forever exclusions" handed out to those who terrorize transit every day we're in service. But no. The "customer", no matter their misbehavior, come first. We're an afterthought, a budgetary line item you hope to replace with Artificial Intelligence someday. Fuck you very much for that bit of human reality we're not accepting of.

Fare is required, but if you don't have it, don't worry because we'd rather suspend that nasty operator than enforce our policy. Face masks are required, but if you choose not to wear one, it's okay... Mommy Transit will feed and pamper you and that Operator has no business making you get off their vehicle. Your numerous bags of cans and bottles are leaking, but you can board and fear not the person in the Operator's seat... we'll discipline them if they leave you behind. No matter if your bags could contain the saliva containing COVID-19 which can hover for over a week if it dribbles onto the floor (or sometimes even a seat). Operators are there because we put them there, and they are to shut the fuck up and JUST DRIVE. There there, poor little pampered "customers", we're there for you. Even if you don't pay fare, we will discipline that bad old driver for having the audacity to tell you what to do even though he/she We'll take care of that uber-stressed, hyper-disciplined Operator if you'll just call and complain. Even if you lie, it's okay. We're there for you. If we can drive to the end of the line without calling Dispatch in despair, that's all we can hope for.

When will you step up and BE THERE FOR US?!? Grow a set! ENFORCE THE TIME-HONORED RULES OF TRANSIT AND STOP BEING SO WIMPY!

When will you finally realize you're dealing with over 1,500 transit operators who have constantly stepped up no matter the weather event or catastrophe, just to do our job? We're human, and we do the work of transit for our fellow Portlanders. You sign our paychecks, lord over us with your numerous (often ridiculous) edicts, the public face of transit. We do more than we're paid to do, but even one misstep even though however misconstrued, we're called on the carpet. Our passengers however are given the green light to complain without fear of consequence: that is OURS to bear, alone.

I know your job is fraught with many concerns and concerns from all directions. But for once, could you stop and think about US? Yeah, hello. It's me, Mr. Bus Operator who toils alongside Ms. Operator (the ladies who are more apt to become victim of Joe Badass's misogynistic disgusting behavior). While you sit up in that semi-ivory tower on Harrison Street, WE are rolling the mean streets of transit. Your homey-sounding emails bemoaning the hassles of working remotely ring false to each of us who sacrifice our health to the perils of rolling wheels and keeping them so.

Get your cute face on TV and insist people show respect. Not only to US, but also to their fellow Portlanders. This is a worldwide PANDEMIC, for crying out loud! It's time for transit to flex its muscle, enforce nearly a century of transit realities, and stop bullying US, who sacrifice our health for the public's trip to the grocery store or to ignore the Governor's Stay-At-Home Order to hang with homeys at the local skate park.

It's no longer bordering on insanity; it has far surpassed what a normal human should be expected to endure. WE should have the final say as to who rides our vehicles, not Corporata's wimpy "let's try to please everyone and to hell with the Operator" mantra. To even consider suspending an Operator for making an en-route decision as to who should be allowed to ride, is utter foolishness. Instead, it's outrageously disrespectful to the Captain o'Ship. I'm expected to pass up a regular who always has fare in hand while a five-bagged bottle-hustler who dares say after six weeks of riding free, "What, you don't accept cash?" gets preference? Fuck that. I have regulars who pay fare. We all do. They are doing essential work this past 6-8 weeks. Joe Bottle Dude is a con and is given a free ride to the next Bottle Drop while Alex the Nurse has to sit in the rain another 15 minutes until the next bus arrives? Leave it to US to make the determination of who rides and who waits.

STOP PANDERING TO THOSE WHO ENDANGER US THE MOST WHILE REFUSING TO EVEN ATTEMPT PAYING FARE!

"I tried to buy a Hop Pass," one slacker told me upon boarding one late night. "They wouldn't let me."

What the fuck? Was your money counterfeit or what? Does a 7-11 have rules as to who can pay them to buy a Hop Pass? No. That was the most lame excuse I had heard in the eight weeks we have endured this pandemical nightmare. It didn't even begin to pass the bullshit test. He gave me the same look as my dog did when she looked guilty for having tipped over the trash can for that tasty morsel of last night's steak bone. It was just as easily dismissed.

All I could do was shrug. I knew two regulars awaited me a few stops ahead, and I already had 12 aboard. Still, I pulled into their stop and welcomed them aboard. The policy says 10-15, and I refuse at that time of night to let a few numbers strand those who steadfastly pay their fare even when 50% of those aboard have not paid. Our Fare Inspectors are perhaps not allowed on buses mid-route. If they were, tons of slackers would be sorry they hadn't walked into a Fred Meyers, Safeway, 7-11, Plaid Pantry or WalMart to purchase valid fare.

Yeah, I know many people are broke right now. I recognize those who are honestly tapped out due to the economic crash from the con artists who think they have the game down. It angers me when someone boards at a transit hub without fare. They have cash in hand, stare at the farebox and shrug. "You don't take cash?"

"No," I reply. "We haven't taken cash since Lincoln was president."

This usually causes a pause. "What?"

"There's a fare station just over there at the MAX platform," I told one faker. "Take your wad of cash over there and buy a HOP pass."

"But... I'll miss this bus!" the slacker says.

"Yep," I reply with a smile behind my mask, "but at least you will have paid for that ride."

Folks, it's hard for everyone right now. But transit operators are wise to every game in town. We live it countless times a shift. You're no smarter than our experience. We cannot be conned. A bus operator knows there are hard-working stiffs waiting for us to roll their way. We get to know those who ride our specific line and train. The honest ones, they speak in real time. In words we understand and have lived ourselves once upon a time. Don't try to bullshit me, it doesn't work. It only pisses me off. I'd rather you honestly say "I'm currently unemployed because of the virus, and I would truly appreciate a ride." Honesty goes a long way with me. Bullshit leaves you waiting for the next bus, perhaps a newbie who is afraid of Big Bad Management waiting to discipline another Operator braving a miniscule COVID-19 micro-particle fake complaint.

I don't play your game, nor do I agree with Corporata's handling of this pandemic. Oh yeah, I appreciate its too-late reactionary steps, which they will later laud as a wonderful response to the 2020 Pandemic in their next "pat ourselves on the back" landmark book. Still, it will fail to celebrate the ultimate sacrifice Operators exhibit each day we expose ourselves to micro-particles which we breathe in every moment we're in our vehicles.

We're lucky in Portland. One operator has tested positive to date, and he recovered. So far. Still, the vast majority of us are untested, wondering, worrying, fretting whether we might be positive yet un-symptomatic. The first wave is nearly done, but this coming fall beckons. As Portland and the rest of the world gingerly re-opens for summer, the potential for a resurgence of positive test results beckons. Meanwhile, your trusty transit operator awakens each day, dons the uniform and prepares for what could be the first day of the last week of our lives.

Mr. GM, given your penchant for working remotely, how would you feel in my (newly-adopted ridiculous uniform policy-directed) shoes? Your sunshiny emails might take on a bit more dark undertone such as my frontline reality-laced blog posts have. Forgive my harshness, but I'm bone-weary having driven a bus through the worst (so far) of the 2020 Pandemic. Yeah, I'm pretty jaded. Can you blame me? Over 150 of our brothers and sisters in New York lost, many others worldwide, and the lives keep falling like leaves on a dying tree. Are we so insignificant that you cannot even give honor to transit workers lost?

Our GM didn't even know the name Thomas Dunn shortly after he was unanimously confirmed by the Bored (sic on purpose) of Directors. This is the name of an operator whose throat was slashed by a freaky passenger who blessed the driver (twice) before killing him. Mr. Dunn, bleeding out via is slashed carotid artery, managed to pull his bus safely to a stop, securing it just before he died in his seat. Given his ignorance of this, am I supposed to rally behind our General Manager? He hadn't even read the State Auditor's Report on our transit system when the Bored (sic on purpose) decided he was the perfect fit to become our General Manager. Disgraceful, to say the least. Now, we're stuck with a guy (fired from the Canadian position he held) who reacts weeks too late to make a credible difference in the lives he's charged with protecting.

Yeah, I'd LOVE to be the GM right now. If I were, transit would be 99% more safe, effective and responsive to what Portland needs it to be, from both the operator's perspective and the passengers as well. Right now, it's anybody's guess as to what will happen. If I were a betting man though, I'd lay a wager on transit screwing the union workers when contract negotiations resume. They have a VERY short memory when it comes to what WE do for Portland. That's just management's way of saying "we appreciate you", but fuck off.

Thanks, Mr. GM. Keep up the self-imagined good work. Just try to get ahead of the game instead of doing what you're told. Leadership dictates you anticipate the needs of the many rather than waiting to react to any given set of circumstances. We're waiting for you to shine, but it's pretty dark out here. Get ahead of the game, and maybe the sun will shine. For now, the rain continues to fall upon us. It's only getting wetter.

Meanwhile, I'll sit back and relax. I've earned my vacation, and I will gladly accept my pay for doing what I want for a change. My Beloved has a light list of Honey Do's, and my book needs writing. If you don't hear from me much this week, it's because I'm busy being Patrick rather than Deke. One needs the other more than than the other needs the imagined self. I'm trying to become ONE rather than two. Bear with me. For seven years I've hidden behind this pseudonym. Now that I'm "out" the fight within is less violent. The storm is calming, the writer's muse is being heard. Someday, I'll leave transit blogging to those who are up and coming. Until then, I'll just write what I must, when it seems most prudent.

Safe travels to you all. Don't forget to bless those who gave their lives that we may remain FREE Americans on this Memorial Day Weekend. Peace, safety and health be with you all.

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