It's a desktop computer I bought on the Friday of the Yard Sale Trail weekend, from a seller who set up in the flat space next to Walmart on 24th, where several houses once stood. It sits on a table upstairs, still has the $10 price sticker on it, and works great. Exactly what I had walked from Lakeport to town hoping to find. Now, I thought, if I can get it to the bus stop at Walmart, I'm home free. Well, not exactly free, you understand ... there's the 40 cent bus fare.
Got on, put in the 40c, looked for a seat, and I heard the driver saying "I can't let you bring that on here."
What? I thought. He can't mean the computer. This isn't the first desktop I've taken home by bus.
"What?" I said to the driver.
"I can't let you bring that electronic device on the bus."
"Then give me back my fare," I said.
"I can't do that."
"I already paid," I said, "and you can either let me ride to Home Depot and transfer or give me my forty cents back."
"I can't do that."
"Either let me on or give me my fare back."
This back and forth actually went on for several minutes -- have you ever wondered why your bus is late and why Blue Water Transit can't maintain its own printed schedule -- until common sense prevailed and the driver -- BERNIE -- called the dispatcher who said yes, he can bring a desktop on as long as it doesn't block any aisles or doorways inside the bus.
On I got, and off we went.
Jesus H. Christ Almighty.
My cousin in Arizona, to whom I told this story, reacted thusly; "Un-fucking-believable."
Now I'm wondering: who do these people think they are, who trains them, and what planet did they live on before they came to Earth and decided to become bus drivers?
It isn't as hard as you might think. On Facebook, BWT has posted an invitition for members of the general public (and OMG, we know what that means, don't we?) to try out for the team.
I should fill out an application and go in for an interview. That would really be the shit, wouldn't it?
But I'd get some face time with the road manager, and that would be a good thing since calling the bus HQ and pressing either 2 for the RM or 6 for the general info operator -- at least from my phone -- automatically gets me the RM's voice mail (the electronic equivalent of throwing your letter in the wastebasket unopened).
Now is THIS any way to facilitate some meaningful two-way dialog?
Well, if they're going to block the normal channels of communication, there's really no choice but to make your concerns known some other way, right?
Yeppers . . .
And we ain't done yet. Check out our next post.
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