Impossible to Please All of You

Goofing off with three lovely sisters
 a few years back on the Extra Board

On a positive note, a friend and fellow writer/blogger/operator from Vancouver, British Columbia (see: Tommy Transit) rode with me today. He's a guest in our home tonight as well. It was comforting to have someone I admire roll with me. He saw, firsthand, the "disconnect" with passengers these days. My next post will describe our interaction.

Hey folks, I try to be positive. Often, these days, there's not a lot of fun going on behind the wheel. Between kamikaze motorists, mentally ill fare evaders and puffed up wannabe "transit bosses", I get a bit worked up. When I possibly can, this blog touches upon the lighter side. If I could only write that part of the job, I happily would. Instead, it's just honesty. Right now, I'm in a dark, depressed and sad mood. Two years of pandemic has had similar impacts upon everyone. If you can't deal with or understand that, please move peacefully onward rather than dissing me for what comes out here.

Someone recently commented it was nice to see a positive post, rather than one in which I'm "whining". When the shitstorm is too intense, I tell you about it. When things are light and fun, I try to write that too. This blog is a public journal about one operator's life in the seat. It's possibly my most healing form of self-therapy. Many operators have stated they feel what I write in their own lives. Some of you do not, and I understand. I cannot hope to please everyone here, nor do I try. 

How is anyone to understand the life of an operator if I bullshit you with roses and fluff every time? Yeah, it's a tough job, but I still gain the seat and rough it out. Every day. We all do, somehow finding the will to "get up" for the job when we'd rather call in sick and medicate with that rarely-found prescription of Fukitol.

Through violence, pandemic, natural disaster or whatever weather greets my day, I tell you how it feels FromTheDriverSide. If you want everything positive, go somewhere else. These days, I doubt you'll find that. Perhaps you're not interested in a collective reality, or unwilling to acknowledge my intensely-personal perception. I write what I feel, not what others may expect.

For now, I'm off to bed. One more shift and it's a three-day weekend. Beloved and I are off to the coast for a relaxing stay in a jacuzzi-rich rental. Just US. I miss her so. This signup only allows us time together about 30 minutes a day during my work week, if that much. Our time alone is never enough. 

Safe travels, y'all.