This article appears in May 1-7, 2008.
your shitty music
thank you to the bus driver who told the asshole listening to his sharty techno-crap induced music loud enough to be heard through the entire bus to turn it down. Thank you for telling him a second time when it was still just as loud as the first time, t
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Funny that this is here today…yesterday I was on the #2 (bus #956) downtown and there was this little gansta looking snot with his music cranked to high-heaven. I approached the driver about it and the driver did nothing. So, being the fool that I was I approached the little snot and asked him to turn it down myself. His response was that “no one else is complaining, you’re the only one that has a problem” and then the little prick had the audacity to turn it up louder still. I got even angrier and ended up getting off the bus and gave the little prick the finger (I may be a marked man btw). So long story short after I got home I called the Metro Transit line and reported the useless 956 driver.
Yeah, that’s it.
No, Homie. I do not think they should be subject to abuse. I do not think they should not be allowed to get frustrated, or to have bad days. What I do think, is that they should do the job they are paid to do, in spite of being frustrated. I think they should fullfill the responsibilities they agreed to fullfill when they signed their contracts, no matter how bad a day they are having. That is called being a goddam professional, my friend, and it is expected of all of us.
Very concise and articulate, Miranda. Not to mention TRUE.
so ignore being on time should take a seat to telling some kid to turn down the music? If the kid refuses then what? Park the bus till the cops come? Fight the kid and throw him off? What if he refuses? Makes every one the bus late and be late to pick up new passengers….. because you think another passenger is being rude?while what she is saying is true……. try saying how it could have been achieved in a realistic manner, without disrupting service. Clearly you dont think if he kicks some punk off a bus, he is just going to get up and fuck off, he already ignored the passenger.
what happened to that post? hmm weird.
ah go make a bylaw about it why don’t ya…. hahahaNo, bus drivers shouldn’t have to be responsible for instilling values into our children but people must learn to communicate effectively to induce any kind of change. Kick the fucker off the bus if he doesn’t comply with the driver’s (reasonable) request. If he doesn’t move then, yes, the bus can sit there until police come and make a good example of him. Practice this only a few times and it won’t be much of a problem any more.On the other hand, what kind of abuse are you and the driver really subject to overhearing god awful music for a whole 15 or 20 minutes out of your day. Why not get an iPod of your own and fuck off?To the OP, I wish many hours of Barry Manilow direct through headphones… twice daily hahaha
are you kidding? The problem will be ten fold as kids will do this just to be fools, then run a few minutes before cops get there. This will create fights on busses, and a bigger problem if this was something that would be a much bigger mess….every time that bus sitstthere while that driver gets up to deal with this inconvience for you, that bus will be late. You explain to the customer that might be about 1 km away and can see the bus that he is waiting for in the cold, or the rain, or the snow, that the bus is late because some kid wouldnt turn down an iPod.If you can tell me that you dont mind being late for work over an iPod “situation”, then i would like your job or boss. I highly doubt that my boss would be cool with that excuse. “Im late because the bus i was on during rush hour, was stopped because the driver called the police because some kid wouldnt turn down an iPod”
That’s the way to handle these jerks. I don’t mean the idiots with their loud music (although they are jerks, too), I mean the bus drivers who refuse get involved and do their jobs. Report them. It wasn’t too many years ago when drivers would pull up to a stop, tell someone to turn down their music, and then sit there, and simply not move on, until the idiot did what he was told . That always seemed to work, because it shamed the morons into turning their crap down. Now it seems that most of the drivers don’t care. Oddly enough, I find that the best way to get these snots to turn down their music is to get up, walk over to them, and ask them to turn it *up*. “Hey, I can’t really hear your music, all the way over there where I’m sitting. You mind turning it up? I’m sure all of us would enjoy your choice of music.”Well, they can’t been seen doing something they’re asked, right? So they turn it down, instead.
There is no reason for anyone to listen to their music, anywhere, loudly enough that other people can hear it. That goes for people with portable mp3 players and headphones, or people playing their home stereos so loud the music blasts into other people’s apartments. It is thoughtless, rude, inconsiderable, arrogant, childish, disrespectful and hateful behavior. Any bus driver who does not immediately tell a passenger to turn down their music, and any landlord that does not permanently ensure a tenant is not annoying his neighbours with loud music, is incompetent, lazy, and cowardly.
And what about all the young people — and sometimes not so young — who curse in public? You hear them on buses, in stores, in food courts, in restaurants even, peppering their speech with words I would be ashamed to say in public.What values have their parents instilled in them?
while i agree about the rudeness level of the fuckers that crank that shit, one thing to consider is this, assaults on drivers are higher than ever. From getting cursed on and punched and shit (many cities are suggesting barriers or an enclosure of some sort for the driver, to keep them from people that fly off the handle. Shit like this, is annoying, but you never know if that loud music blasting prick is the one that takes that swing at you. I recall of 5 stories in the paper in the last year of bus drivers being punched or kicked or spat on. I am not justifying them not doing shit about it. It just makes you think twice when you have to pass a co-worker that sports a shiner because some kid socked him
Some good points there Homie… (YES, I said it)…For as much as most of the bus drivers I have ever encountered around here are real pricks… one thing is for sure… I cannot think of a more thankless, miserable job to be doing… It is sometimes small wonder that those buggers are so damn hateful…
I think part of the problem with out-of-line people (inappropriately loud music, public cursing, disrespectful) is that other people let them get away with it….it’s basically telling these people that it’s OK behavior and encouraging them to escalate their rudeness to push the limits. It’s especially bad to let kids get away with it. Not saying anyone should put themselves at risk, just saying we shouldn’t be too shy about it either. Trust your instincts for sure though.
I mean has anyone sat on a bus for 7 hours? i was one of them survey guys that sat on a bus for 7 hours doing those transit surveys they do in octobber…. …clearly anyone that complains, hasnt been in the flesh them fucker have. I give them SOME SERIOUS credit. It is annoying enough to deal with traffic in a car for a 15 minute drive home. Try doing it with a huge fucken bus, and for 7 hours. They had a fuck head that complained that he was a few minutes late, or someone with a fucked up transfer, or someone that chewed him for not knowing every little side street that connects with his route. Really, i will never complain about a bus driver again. He might be a dick, or he might be having one of them days…… and one of them days for him, FAR worse than any shit i suffer.
I just hope like hell that I never have to do a job like that… Ever…
Not many of us have the luxury of enjoying our jobs. Most of us have done stressfull, unpleasant work at some time in our lives. I’ve worked in a call center, where I got screamed at, cursed at, threatened, and generally abused by a couple hundred people a day. Of course, I was never in any danger of being physically assaulted, but I sure as hell wasn’t making $23/hour either. I’m sure driving a bus is a shitty job. But those drivers have good benefits, job security, and they make more money than most people with undergrad degrees. I don’t think it’s too much to expect that they do their fucking jobs.
Excellent point Miranda, although I’m sure it will be disputed overzealously by Big Vadge (aka Giner, aka you know who), who is certainly chomping at the bit to enlighten us all with the glorious knowledge he acquired during his 7 hour bus ride.
They may have great benefits and all, but if you just talked them and asked them to ask some dude to turn down the iPod of some kid, and he is running behind because one of the many detours this city has, you think that stopping the bus and going to make a stink over that is on his mind? He knows he is going to have some one bitch or comment like they always do when he is more than 10 minutes late. I highly doubt after listening to people bitch at them as often as they do in a day…. i am doubting that someone screaming in there ear, some crying kids, packed buses and traffic headaches, how much they make and benefits are on thier mind at the time. They are humans, not machines. They are entitled to have a threshold of what is annoying. Of course there are some drivers that are huge dicks, but really, next time you ride the bus, study how much that fucker is responsible for. Ex haligonian will no doubt tell you all this.
Can I call it or can I call it???High fives all around!!!!
so you think because someone makes $23/hr, and has health care, they should be subject to abuse, not allowed to have bad days, not allowed to get frustrated?nice.
Music overheard from someone’s headphones is a minor annoyance. So is some idiot yammering into a cellphone. Of course I don’t think a bus full of commuters should be held up over something so trivial. But even when it’s something non-trivial, drivers, with rare exceptions, do nothing. I’ve had roughhousing teenagers fall on me. I’ve been verbally harrassed and even pawed by drunks. I’ve been kicked in the shin by an out of control child. And on each of these occassions -and others- the driver did NOTHING. I can count the times on one hand that I’ve seen a driver do anything to maintain order on public transit.
Maybe what we need is Bus Marshal’s that can call for a stop and throw the person off the bus. Much quicker, and the driver just has to focus on driving…
what you have described with the roughhousing is a physical threat. I can understand a driver stopping this, and being late to deal with it. Safety always comes first.You however said this…. “‘m sure driving a bus is a shitty job. But those drivers have good benefits, job security, and they make more money than most people with undergrad degrees. I don’t think it’s too much to expect that they do their fucking jobs.”and like i suggested, we really cant expect them to just stop the bus and go through the motions of “it’s your job, make him turn it down”. That was the point i am trying to make. While it is shitty that the OP found the driver to be a dick for doing nothing…..seriously, what was the driver to do? I agree with most you said, but reality is to stop one complaint of the iPod blaring kid, could lead to FAR more complaints of being late, or a fight breaking out as some guy like myself might get fed up and crack the mouthy kid in the face causing a full scale rumble.
I’m not saying it is not. But I wasn’t aware that its the driver responsibility to monitor the volume level of people’s music.If it came down to being late or having to listen to crappy music for an hour or less I know what I would prefer.
I don’t think these people even read the rules in the front of the busschedule book. The book says to turn down the volume on your discmans/ipods/mp3 players, etc. so you don’t disturb otherpassengers.