Wow, yesterday contained two bus rides of interest. Think I'll report on the ride home and save the morning for another time. When it rains, it pours . . .I caught the 4:15pm 81N at the transit area on College Avenue. Taken this bus many times, love the driver, a very mellow fellow. Quite a few people boarded the bus, way more than usual. Among them were a young man accompanied by two young women. They seemed in the 19-22 year old range and became 'standouts' due to the guy's loud voice and language. He used essentially two four-letter words - 'like' and 'f--k'. The word 'like' appeared as every other word and 'f--k' (or a variation thereof ...) appeared as every third or fourth word. Needless to say, his conversation lacked substance or meaning - it reminded me of a stuck CD - same track section over and over and over. I'm convinced people who speak in this fashion don't really know how they sound. I think this speaking style starts young, inspired by peers, and becomes an unfortunate habit. Sadly, it reflects poorly on the speaker's ability to communicate and negative reaction seems inevitable.
Well, negative reaction occurred, swiftly and convincingly. Before we took off, a woman yelled at the young man and said, "You better stop the dirtymouth or I'll have the driver throw your sorry white ass off the bus!" Whew! She was loud, direct and the silence that followed was deep. After a couple of heartbeats, the young man said he could say anything he wanted and told her to shut up herself. She said she didn't have to listen to his pottymouth and he better quit. They went back and forth like a couple of junior high children and then both went quiet. The driver looked back, but didn't say anything as it appeared the situation had resolved itself. We took off and I could hear the young man's voice again - not quite as loud, but definitely full of his favorite 4-letter lexicon. I put my earbuds in to listen to NPR when I heard the woman screaming again. She overcame the volume of my buds so I removed them to witness the continuing battle. The junior high behavior had returned and volume on both sides increased. The driver pulled over, turned around, looked at the young man and very calmly said, "Chill the profanity, OK?" He gave no obvious indication of threat or menace, just a simple statement which quelled the riot and allowed us to continue the ride in peace.
While I admire the woman for complaining, her method lacked. She needed to ask nicely before jumping down the kid's throat. She didn't take the high road and ended up looking not much better than the offender she attempted to correct. She used the words 'dirtymouth' and 'pottymouth' in a fashion that made me think she harbors her own demons. She left the bus angry - bad way to end the day. As for the kid, he's just ignorant - not much chance he learned anything from the confrontation, but we can always hope.
3 comments:
I thought I'd find Chris on the 6am66 this morning and unfortunately it was not to be. Hi Chris, it's me Mark. My schedule varies since graduation so you may find me as early as 6:00am and as late as 7:30am. You never know when the bike guy may strike. The ride has been pretty uneventful since I don't see you,Bill,or Dave anymore. There's nothing like a morning roundtable before coffee to get the ol' blood flowing. Well I hope to see you soon and happy bussing.
I should add to the above. Mike, the engineering guy, was on the bus this morning. He is still plugging away at school and hopes to graduate by December. I will never think I carried a heavy load when I listen to the classes he takes.
Hey Mark! How cool that you wrote - I didn't think you knew about the bus blog. I haven't been on the 6am66 since end of May. I started taking the 81 since it goes every 15 minutes. I'll do the 66 for a couple of weeks and maybe run into you. Did you have a grand time in San Diego, post graduation? Any beer or beach left for others? I know what you mean about his course load - hope he graduates and makes millions of dollars - he's earned it. Take care and hopefully catch you on the 66.
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