Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Today my mind was boggled by a man who wouldn't move his feet. He was sitting in the first sideways-facing seat, his feet sticking out into the aisle about a foot. There was a woman in a wheelchair trying to exit the bus, and his feet stayed right where they were. "Watch your feet, sir", I said, expecting the usual, almost reflexive response of the feet being pulled back. "My feet are okay", said the man, not moving them at all. "Your feet are in her way" I said. "I don't think so" came the calm reply. I want to ask him if there was something wrong with his feet. I wanted to push is feet back myself. I wanted to say that I had never heard of anything so rude in my life! I wanted to call him a jackass. I did none of the above. I just waited, while the woman squeezed her wheelchair by and went down the ramp. Then I put the ramp back in and went on my merry way. Then a friendly aquaintance named Paul got on the bus, and we struck up a conversation. Paul was standing near the front of the bus while we exchanged how-do-you-do's. Suddenly the man pointed to, and read aloud the sign up front that says "Information gladly given, but saftely prohibits talking to the bus driver while the bus is in motion." I moved my lips in the shape of a couple of choice words, one of which was the word I hadn't called him earlier. But no sound came out of my mouth. Paul was conveniently blocking anyone else who might see me in the mirror. I laughed and asked Paul if he could read lips. He said, yes, he could. He only went a few more stops, and then we exchanged goodbyes. The other man was still there. When he got off the bus, I said "Thank you, have a nice day". I didn't mean it, but I said it. He pointed again at the sign and told me not to forget to report myself for having a conversation while driving the bus. "Thank you, have a nice day" I repeated. So he left. It's a crazy world.

1 comment:

  1. WOW! How unbelievably rude! Wonder what the guy's problem was? You know what? I've never noticed the "no talking" sign!! But that won't stop me. I like making friends with my bus drivers. But so far I haven't met another I wanted to be Facebook friends with. :-)

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