I was riding a nearly empty bus at a time I normally don't ride. Something was off. Was someone singing that loudly to their iPod and that off-tune?? I looked over and in the closest seat to the driver was a man with one leg up on the seat, his lunch box and several bags of items sprawled across bench and no iPod...
It wasn't singing as much as loud noises coming from this guy as he was rocking back and forth. After awhile, these noises got louder and the rocking got more intense. Then he started banging his fist on his foot and yelling. As it escalated, he started throwing his head on the armrest over and over, this armrest was no soft couch armrest either. Straight solid plastic.
I started looking around and realized this guy was alone.I began panicking a little bit. Is he supposed to be out in the world alone? It doesn't seem that he is in a position to make decisions for himself since he is about to cause some damage. Where is his supervision?? At this moment, the bus driver yelled "calm down!" at him. He apologized and stopped the head and hand banging. The noises calmed down, sort of, as he obliged the driver.
The confusion was mounting as I was desperately trying to make sense of the situation. This man was obviously special needs and had nobody to help him... except the bus driver? Was the driver trained in this area? Does she know him? Was this a common occurrence and he gets transported somewhere? How was it okay that she yelled at him? It did calm him down... but... SO CONFUSED!!!!
The rest of the ride went in cycles. His "episodes" (is that anywhere near the right terminology!?!?) would increase and just as I started to freak out that he was going to hurt himself, the driver would yell at him to calm down. Then he would apologize and chill for a bit. Then repeat, over and over.
Trying not to take a last look back when I exited the bus, I walked home with a question mark over my head. It just didn't seem safe or right. Something was definitely off, but to this day, the mystery of the unaccompanied special needs passenger remains that...a mystery.
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
Recon Mission
The other day, I jumped off the bus at Bookmans to grab a couple of concert tickets. Bookmans is right on my route, so I planned to jump right back on the bus after I made my purchase. However, since the bus only runs every half hour, I had awhile to wait. I sat down at the stop and started fiddling with my phone to kill some time. I wasn't there very long when a couple of homeless looking dudes came and started hanging out at the bus stop. One of them started smoking right next to me. Do you know what a homeless person smoking smells like??? Ya you know how I feel about that.
I started looking at the bus schedule on my phone to see if I could walk to the next stop before the bus got there and it was no problem at all so I made the executive decision to get up and walk to the next stop. This stop is in between streets so it was less likely that there would be lots of homeless smoking people there than the stop right outside of Bookmans.
As I was strolling along, I had my iPod in one coat pocket and my phone in my other coat pocket with my bus pass. I made sure my pass was handy so I wouldn't make the bus sit there while I dug through my backpack. I took my phone out and started texting Sarah to tell her I got us our Snoop Dogg tickets. That's right, Snoop Dogg.
When I reached the next stop I decided to keep walking. I ended up walking all the way home. I felt pretty good about that, it was about a half hour walk and I beat the bus to my stop. Go me!
The next morning, I go to grab my bus pass out of its usual pocket in my backpack as the bus rolls up. It isn't there. I reach in my coat pocket, the same coat I was wearing the day before. No pass. Crap. I have to dig through my backpack, get my purse out and hope I have the $1.25 to ride the bus. Of course the driver and all passengers start looking at me like "why don't you have your fare ready?" Luckily I had the change and put it in the machine. I sat down and read the sign, "please have your fare ready before boarding the bus." Whatever jerk.
At this point I emptied out pretty much every pocket in my backpack right on the bus seat thinking I must have put my pass in the wrong spot. WHERE IS IT?!?! Grrr. Not there. Okay, so I probably put it on my dresser, I will check when I get home. Guess what, not there either!!!!
I started to realize it must have fallen out of my pocket on my walk from Bookmans the day before. This is a highly coveted annual pass that anyone could pick up and use. Not to mention, it isn't refundable in any way. When its gone, you have to buy another one.
I was not settling for having to buy another pass, so I decided to go on a recon mission, retrace my steps from the walk I took from Bookmans and maybe I would find it. Doubtful. I went and started looking in all the cactus along the road and anywhere it might have blown to since it was of course windy that day. Then, all of a sudden, right there on the side of the road was my bus pass, the little credit card sized piece of paper. It had survived a cold night and a windy day sitting there right where I dropped it. I couldn't believe it. I let out a little yell and jumped out of my car. I was so excited!!!!! Mission accomplished!!!!!
This is a mural of Snoop on the side of Bookmans. What. Regulaaaaaaaaatoooooooooorrrrrss.
I started looking at the bus schedule on my phone to see if I could walk to the next stop before the bus got there and it was no problem at all so I made the executive decision to get up and walk to the next stop. This stop is in between streets so it was less likely that there would be lots of homeless smoking people there than the stop right outside of Bookmans.
As I was strolling along, I had my iPod in one coat pocket and my phone in my other coat pocket with my bus pass. I made sure my pass was handy so I wouldn't make the bus sit there while I dug through my backpack. I took my phone out and started texting Sarah to tell her I got us our Snoop Dogg tickets. That's right, Snoop Dogg.
When I reached the next stop I decided to keep walking. I ended up walking all the way home. I felt pretty good about that, it was about a half hour walk and I beat the bus to my stop. Go me!
The next morning, I go to grab my bus pass out of its usual pocket in my backpack as the bus rolls up. It isn't there. I reach in my coat pocket, the same coat I was wearing the day before. No pass. Crap. I have to dig through my backpack, get my purse out and hope I have the $1.25 to ride the bus. Of course the driver and all passengers start looking at me like "why don't you have your fare ready?" Luckily I had the change and put it in the machine. I sat down and read the sign, "please have your fare ready before boarding the bus." Whatever jerk.
At this point I emptied out pretty much every pocket in my backpack right on the bus seat thinking I must have put my pass in the wrong spot. WHERE IS IT?!?! Grrr. Not there. Okay, so I probably put it on my dresser, I will check when I get home. Guess what, not there either!!!!
I started to realize it must have fallen out of my pocket on my walk from Bookmans the day before. This is a highly coveted annual pass that anyone could pick up and use. Not to mention, it isn't refundable in any way. When its gone, you have to buy another one.
I was not settling for having to buy another pass, so I decided to go on a recon mission, retrace my steps from the walk I took from Bookmans and maybe I would find it. Doubtful. I went and started looking in all the cactus along the road and anywhere it might have blown to since it was of course windy that day. Then, all of a sudden, right there on the side of the road was my bus pass, the little credit card sized piece of paper. It had survived a cold night and a windy day sitting there right where I dropped it. I couldn't believe it. I let out a little yell and jumped out of my car. I was so excited!!!!! Mission accomplished!!!!!
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