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Yesterday, the morning bus had a new driver. She was really nice. One of the first things she did was to ask for someone to help her with the route. It is the longest, most complicated route on the system, and has defeated some drivers completely. Seriously, some drivers have come on for one day, then refused to drive it again. I've been riding it for 3 1/2 years, so I volunteered. We chatted, I pointed out stops and turns, and made it to work no problem. She mentioned that she'd like my help the next day, too. I'm happy to do it.
So, this morning, I do the same thing, sit up front and help. She has a pretty good idea of most of the stops and turns already, but she double checks with me. Again, things are going fine. Then we came to a traffic jam. I warn her that this jam was a regular thing once school was in session. Oh, well.
We finally get past the worst, then have another small jam where the street narrows from one to two lanes. Of course, some bitch (I could see her gesturing from where I was sitting) does not want to alternate merge and kept honking at the bus, which bugs the driver, but she seems okay. I remind the driver that she now needs to make a right turn. For some reason, maybe nerves, she makes a left turn instead, onto a narrow side street with no room to turn around a Mini Cooper, much less a bus. She tries backing up, she tries to maneuver into a parking lot, she's apologizing, asking for help, suggestions are flying, then finally someone in the back yells, "Sorry, I can't wait much longer, there's no restroom on this bus," then laughs, and everyone else starts laughing. Someone else yells up that she can go right at the next street, then right again, to get back to the main road. She apologizes for the delay, then yells, "You're all laughing at me, how do you think I feel?" and starts laughing along with everyone else.
We get back on the route, and she manages to get the bus through a shortcut that saves most of the time we lost, so just about everyone ended up laughing about the whole thing, and telling her not to worry about it.
So, this morning, I do the same thing, sit up front and help. She has a pretty good idea of most of the stops and turns already, but she double checks with me. Again, things are going fine. Then we came to a traffic jam. I warn her that this jam was a regular thing once school was in session. Oh, well.
We finally get past the worst, then have another small jam where the street narrows from one to two lanes. Of course, some bitch (I could see her gesturing from where I was sitting) does not want to alternate merge and kept honking at the bus, which bugs the driver, but she seems okay. I remind the driver that she now needs to make a right turn. For some reason, maybe nerves, she makes a left turn instead, onto a narrow side street with no room to turn around a Mini Cooper, much less a bus. She tries backing up, she tries to maneuver into a parking lot, she's apologizing, asking for help, suggestions are flying, then finally someone in the back yells, "Sorry, I can't wait much longer, there's no restroom on this bus," then laughs, and everyone else starts laughing. Someone else yells up that she can go right at the next street, then right again, to get back to the main road. She apologizes for the delay, then yells, "You're all laughing at me, how do you think I feel?" and starts laughing along with everyone else.
We get back on the route, and she manages to get the bus through a shortcut that saves most of the time we lost, so just about everyone ended up laughing about the whole thing, and telling her not to worry about it.