When I bought my ticket I asked the worker about getting off the bus on an earlier stop to the final destination. She told me, “As long as the tags on your baggage has the name of the town you want to get off the bus in is clearly marked then there is no problem getting off at an earlier destination.” Using a black marker I wrote on a blank piece of paper in large letters “BERNADETTE PIZZEY, (705) %$# - ^&%$, BROOKS AB” and I had an official bus tag with the same information on it. Along the way, I had spoken to a couple of drivers about getting off at an earlier destination. They all said, “As long as you have a baggage tag and a clearly marked destination attached to the luggage you will have no problem getting off the bus at an earlier than planned destination.” In Moose Jaw we have a driver change When we get to Medicine Hat, which was the last longish stop before Calgary, I tell the driver, “I will be getting off the bus in Brooks.” His reaction left me and the passengers around us more than a little shocked. He told me, “There are no scheduled drop offs in Brooks so you will not be getting off in Brooks!” I told him, “I have friends who have driven 3 hours to Brooks to pick me up, so I need to get off this bus in Brooks!” He yelled, “I have two baggage compartments full of luggage, I am not digging through them to find your luggage and I am not planning on stopping in Brooks anyway, so your friends will have to drive to Calgary if they want to pick you up and that is all I am going to say on the matter.” The passengers who had been laughing and joking all went quiet as they heard his yelling…He turned away from me and walked back to the front of the bus and took his position in the driver’s seat. One of the other passengers tells me. “He almost threw a passenger off the bus at our last stop. The passenger made a comment to him and he told the passenger to get off the bus. The passenger apologize to him and he was allowed back on the bus, but had that passenger not apologize he would have been left behind.” I sent my friend Joyce, who was sitting in Brooks waiting for me, a text message saying, “The driver is not going in to Brooks let alone drop me off there.” I texted her saying, “However, I am still going to try to get off in Brooks, but I do not know what to do if I have to remain on the bus until Calgary.” Her response was, “Well if we have to follow the bus to Calgary, we will, but when we are done that driver will not have a job left.” A few minutes later Joyce sent me another text back saying, “I just talked to the dispatcher here, that bus has to come into Brooks, because he has freight here to pick up and there is a passenger sitting here waiting to get onto that bus.” My response to her was, “Well then I have to get off this bus, because there are no empty seats for a new passenger to sit in! This is a full bus.” “Joyce texted, “The dispatcher just contacted the driver of your bus and told him he has freight and a passenger waiting in Brooks for him.” The dispatcher also told the driver, “You have a passenger who wants off that bus and you are going to let her de-board, so that this passenger here can get onto that bus!” I sent a text back to Joyce saying, “Ok, thank you.” There is a mom traveling with two young boys and they are playing with the group of youth traveling from Quebec to BC to work as fruit pickers. The youth and the boys are playing a game which is entertaining to all the passengers on the bus and it is keeping the boys occupied on their long journey. I see the driver looking at the activities through his mirror. He is frowning and shaking his head. The driver hits the breaks, which the boys are not prepared for and one falls down on the floor of the bus and the other one stumbles over the boy who has fallen down. I see the driver smile as this happens. I am thinking…:You are such a jerk! You hit the brakes on purpose and if one or both of the boys had gotten hurt you would have blamed it on the mom, for not keeping control of the boys and for not keeping them sitting in their seats.” We have just entered the Brooks exit. As we pull into the bus terminal I see Joyce and her husband Dwayne. Once the bus stops I grab my back pack and my carry on suit case and walk towards the front of the bus. The driver has seen me in his mirror and he stands and looks at me and says, “This is not a passenger stop, anyone who gets off this bus at this point will not be getting back on the bus.” I look him square in the eyes and keep walking towards him. He glares at me, turns around and opens the doors to get off the bus. Joyce is at the bottom of the stairs with a very unfriendly look on her face. The driver momentarily stops in mid step, but then continues down the steps. I am right behind him. I step off the last step and give Joyce a hug. We then walk toward the driver and Joyce asks, “What’s this nonsense about not letting my friend off the bus?” He again says, this time in a slightly milder tone, “I have two tanks full of luggage, I am not digging through them to find one passengers luggage!” I asked, “May I look to see if I can easily find my tote?” He glares at me but says, “Sure, but you won’t find it!” He walks toward the baggage compartments and opens the first door. There are only 3 suitcases in it and he says, “These are the bags marked Calgary, there are no bags marked Brooks” and he closes the door. He opens the next door. There is no way to see what is behind the luggage in this compartment and he closes the door. He opens the next door and again there is no way to see what is in the compartment. We walk around the front of the bus to the compartments on the other side. He opens the door and this side of that compartment is empty. He closes the door. He then opens the next door. There are only a few things in this half of the compartment. He moves a suitcase and says, “See your luggage is not visible! And I am not going to crawl in here to look for it for you, so get back on the bus.” I say, “My tote is right there!” He says, “Where? I don’t see any tote!” I tell him, “It is right behind that black suitcase! “If we move that one suitcase I can pull it out.” He says, “You are kidding, right?” I said, “No I am not kidding. I see it right there.” Joyce says, “If you do not want to crawl in there and pull it out I will.” He glares and says, “Go ahead if you want this door to drop on your head!” Joyce moves to crawl into the compartment and the driver pushes past her, grabs the suitcase that is in front of my tote throws it out of the way, grabs my tote and throws it out of the compartment! He then says, “Let me give you some advice. The next time you want to get off the bus at a stop that is not your scheduled stop, clearly mark the baggage and tell the drivers before hand to move your baggage into the proper compartment!” I pointed at the large piece of paper that is taped onto the top of the tote which says, “BERNADETTE PIZZEY, (705) %$# - ^&%$, BROOKS AB and I had an official bus tag with the same information on it.” He says, Putting is hand over and covering the BROOKS part of the destination tag, “All the handlers see is the AB part of the tag, they do not see the BROOKS part of the tag, so youuuu as a passenger have to make sure they and the drivers see the BROOKS part of the tag.” He continues by saying, “By doing that you will save yourself and the drivers a whole lot of upset and confusion.” Joyce, Dwayne and I walk away from that driver with my tote in hand and as I am walking away I am thinking. This is definitely going into book two. I wonder if I should have told him that I am an author who writes about her bus travels and this abusive rendition of a bus drivers power hungry jerkiness will definitely be in the next book?
Posted on: Mon, 08 Jul 2013 06:59:10 +0000
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