Hi everyone:

At 06:20 AM 8/11/00 -0400, you wrote:
>the first driver was without excuss. snarled traffic is a well known element
>in city life and the bus drivers and taxi drivers deal with it daily. the
>bus driver just did not do his job.  a taxi driver would have managed to get
>to you. you know why, if he passes passengers he doesn't get paid. the bus
>driver however gets paid reguardless. you did right in reporting and
>complaining about the problem.

And if you the incident I posted last night was embarrassing, that was
NOTHING compared to this one........

I had just boarded the bus which would drop me off near my Mom and Dad's
apartment one night.  All was normal up until I was fixing to sit down.

I had just got on the bus and was just standing in the aisle while other
passengers boarded and passed me by on the driver's side (I was standing on
the passengers side and was facing a passenger) as I put my bus pass back
in my pocket.

Sometime while I was standing in front of this lady putting my pass back in
my pocket, the lady got up and got off the bus (I had already found another
seat a few rows back by this time.  Also it was a fairly crowded
bus).  Spotting the open seat, I immediately turned around and proceeded to
sit down.

Suffice to say had I known what was about to happen next, I would've simply
skipped the now-suddenly open seat in front of me (which was THE front seat
of the entire bus on the passenger side) and proceeded to the seat I had
laid my eyes on as you would not believe what happened next!!!!

As I was turning around to sit down, the driver said "Excuse
me....".  Knowing she must be talking to me (as she was looking at me), she
asked "What Went On Here???" and pointed out there was a lady sitting in
the seat that I now occupied.

Looking around for the lady who was sitting in the seat before me (only to
discover she must've gotten off), I told the driver what apparently
happened.  I simply said "The lady must've gotten off and I just sat down".

BIG MISTAKE!!!!

This driver literally (and quite publicly!) accused me of taking someone
else's seat!!!!

Trying to be calm and rationale, I reiterated that the lady must have
gotten off and I had not asked or otherwise coerced anyone into giving up
their seat for me.

But this driver was either A). Paranoid B). Someone who believed in "Guilty
until proven innocent" or C). both as she was flat out convinced that I had
coerced that lady into giving up her seat and that nothing either I or
other people said or did would change that (there were at least a half
dozen witnesses in the other seats, but she never asked either one of them
anything!).

Throughout the whole time I was on the bus, she said at least once that you
just can't go around coercing people into giving up their seats for you.

Thinking she must've been thinking that I was some hobo who goes around
coercing ladies into giving up their seats for me, I reached into my pocket
and pulled out my disabled persons discount card which gives me the right
to sit in the specially reserved seats for diabled people and showed it to her.

I also pointed out to this driver that I have a right to sit in the seat I
was sitting in no matter how it became available to me (as long as I didn't
coerce anyone into surrendering it, which I didn't).

She countered that by saying something like "You have the right to sit in
those seats.  That's true.  BUT you do not have the right to coerce anyone
into surrendering it to you" (which I knew then and know now!).

By this time, I could see that there was just no reasoning with her or
trying to convince her of the truth, so I told her that I resented her
publily hurling her accusations at me and that I would be filing a
complaint.  She responded with something like "File away!!  I don't
care!!"  and then went on with her repeating her accusations.

Needless to say that when we arrived at my bus stop, I didn't thank the
driver for the ride like I usually do to those who don't do anything
wrong.  Instead I just got off the bus and was thanking "the big guy in the
sky" that I didn't have to listen to that (pardon my french guys) b*tch
hurling accusations at me anymore.

I then walked to my Mom and Dad's apartment and filed the complaint almost
as soon as I arrived and got to the telephone.

Anyone care to top that one????

Patrick Cook
KPDC Internet Radio
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Denver, Colorado
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