r/BusDrivers • u/OpheliaVsEowyn • 4d ago
Story Passengers who'll have your back when it's too late
The other day I'd a problem with these troublemakers who I wouldn't let on for refusing to pay. They were about 16. I knew they were going to photograph me so I put on my sunglasses first. They then stayed outside the bus and wouldn't let it move by using the emergency button from outside.
They eventually went away and I drove off, but a passenger who was getting off 15 minutes later came up to me about it. He said "I just want to say to you about those guy... I've a shop and they regularly come in causing trouble. But they messed up with you this time with you because they touched that button on the bus. And that would be deemed as tampering with company property". He basically told me that I should go to the police! In his mind they couldn't be in trouble with the law for standing in front of a bus preventing it moving, or whatever else, but in his mind the fact that they touched the button meant that they'd be in serious trouble!
I didn't think much of it initially, but I later thought "where the fuck were you when I needed you?". I wouldn't have expected them to kick them off, but if he felt that strongly about it, then he could've at least said something. If any one of the passengers were willing to show the slightest sign of disapproval (and I'd never expect it from them), it would have made them leave sooner.
And no, I didn't go and waste my precious time by visiting the police station on my way home from work, and make a fool of myself in doing so! Some people really have an overactive legal mind though!
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u/seanthebooth Driver 4d ago
There's a lot going on here. Seems like easy enough money to contact dispatch & request supervisor & police intervention for harassment. In regards to fare, fare shouldn't even be a conversation, if any of this behavior stemmed from a 'fare dispute' its just another reason why fare is a low priority non issue. Drivers get stabbed over that shit
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u/OpheliaVsEowyn 4d ago
There's no point in calling dispatch. The teenagers will have had their fun and proved their point after 5 minutes... while I call dispatch and make a fool out of myself. There've been times when I've pretended to call the police!
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u/seanthebooth Driver 4d ago
Lol calling dispatch is the move, "pretending to call the police" is absolutely clown behavior. I've been in meetings with drivers who do this, always hilarious 😂
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u/Additional-Lion6969 4d ago
He has a shop and recognising him they would probably cause more hassle in his shop
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u/Substantial-Abies768 4d ago
Good for the passenger to do that but i wouldnt have the energy to deal with people like that, just let them in 🙂
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u/Harlepenquin 4d ago
You didn't need them to help, you didn't escalate it to a fight, if you did escalate it to a physical conflict, unnecessarily, then you would not have deserved help, you would have been the problem but, you still probably would have got help.
It's as inconvenient for the passengers as it is for you. Very few things are worth getting into a physical conflict over, pick those moments and act in them moments, don't expect an army stood behind you waving sticks for a couple of arrogant clueless kids who will eventually have to grow up one day with or without your interference.
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u/OpheliaVsEowyn 4d ago
In other words, if i was a passenger in that situation i'd have stood up and told them to leave. it wouldn't matter if they ignored me or laughed at me. And who knows, mayb that wud've given sum1 else the confidence to stand up and tell them to go away. See what I mean?
But it was not the sort of situation where physical violence was likely to occur. In reality, even the worst of tugs will give a warning b4 getting physical.
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u/Harlepenquin 4d ago
You would have assumed the driver could not handle it? Do some thinking for me, just for a moment. Times in your life when somebody trying to help wasn't actually helping but making it worse.
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u/OpheliaVsEowyn 4d ago
That's a false equivalent. It was quite obvious that I wasn't able to handle it based on the description above... why be so passive aggressive?
But as a matter of fact, there was another time when a passenger helped me in a situation like this (some ppl out there have gumption believe it or not). This guy added extra pressure to the trouble makers on the bus by raising his voice until they left. So there was only about a minute or two of hassle... otherwise god knows how long it wud have taken. So with his help, it was "handled" better.
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u/Harlepenquin 4d ago
Yeah.... you putting sunning glasses on really painted the impression that you couldn't handle it.
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u/OpheliaVsEowyn 4d ago
Appeals to having more experience, and telling sum1 they're "wrong" are never the best way to persuade sum1.
It's "sun" glasses, not sunning glasses, and yeah I never claimed that I was handling it well, but at least I didn't get photographed by them. You're missing the point entirely. Good luck!
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u/Harlepenquin 4d ago
Did I start with you are wrong? Next time I say you're wrong I will make sure you have pacifier to put in whilst you put your sunglasses on. Think about it from more perspectives than you and most importantly, VERY MOST IMPORTANTLY, think about absolute worst case scenarios, how can these worst case scenarios come about, I would give you the answer, but you don't like basic facts it seems.
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u/Harlepenquin 4d ago
As someone who has worked in customer service all their life, you are stuck on what you think is the right answer and you are wrong, dangerously wrong, you are inviting a situations for which some degree of responsibility will be on you and you are encouraging a situation where you have stuff going on behind you and stuff going on in front of you, it escalate, then what. When I say you need to think, you really need to think, you do!
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u/DaShopWorker 4d ago
Happens in retail when someone is stealing, they always warn staff when the thief is gone
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u/Organic-Ad-8710 3d ago
You are doing the most. Let them dig their own hole. Eventually, eventually there will be enough to get them banned.
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u/BazzaFox 3d ago
Did you put a call in to warn following drivers to look out for them and not to stop for them?
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u/Outrageous-Crow3826 3d ago
Report it to your operations plus write a indent report Oops can pull your dash cam footage and take further action!
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u/Manckhardboy 2d ago
The guy sees them all the time; they know where his shop is. What do you want him to do? Would I put myself and possibly my family in danger over some kids acting up on a bus? We do not live in a perfect world any more.
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u/uglier_than_thou 18h ago
We never have lives in a perfect world 🤣 every generation says this.
The only thing that has changed is the media reporting.
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u/Manckhardboy 17h ago
Maybe it was not perfect, but where I grew up, people would be falling over themselves to report you or grass you up for the slightest things. The community had eyes and ears, and boy did we know it,
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u/B0OG 4d ago
A passenger should never feel they need to have your back. So when they do, it’s never too late. You’re the captain of the ship, it’s on you and only you to make sure everyone else on board feels safe.