To be embarrassed to be a Bus Driver… 😔

[Benny91]

Hi all,

I’ve been a bus driver for 3 years now working out of the Surrey area and I’m finding it to be a menial job and I feel like a loser for doing it at age 33!

I feel like I should of made a better life for myself and should of gone to university, but being in Special Needs classes at school and in general having a minor learning disability has made me not fulfilling my life and seeing people around my age doing so well for themselves! 😩

Also people I’ve come across even smirk or mock me for being a bus driver!

What are your views on bus driving? Should I suck it up and is it in your opinion an embarrassing job?

Don’t put yourself down. A bus driver is an essential worker. It is a skilled job, and you have to deal with the public.

If you want to go to university - the provision is the best it has ever been. There are so many more ways to study for a degree now.

I know of a black cab driver who earned his physics degree from an open university whilst cabbing!

I don't think bus drivers are looked down on? Certainly not embarrassing and there are jobs with much worse pay.

Goodness, I admire bus drivers, living in London and seeing what they have to do sliding through narrow gaps and deal with difficult customers they must have nerves of steel.
You are doing an important, valuable and essential job.
It says more about the people who smirk than you, they must be very insecure about their own achievements especially as it sounds like you have worked very hard to get this job.

Your job is important, they are just idiots for not seeing it.
You provide a service, whether that be to get someone to work, to school, home from a first date, off to a hospital appointment, yoi get them there.
Have they always drove and never used public transport?

I always say that I would LOVE to be a bus driver. I love driving big cars and they don’t get much bigger. I also think you must meet lots of different people but unfortunately have to put up with some dicks so you have my admiration too.

Nothing menial about it, it’s a skilled job and it’s essential to keep the country running

Don’t be embarrassed!
Seriously, I can’t even remember the last time I got a bus but I’m constantly in awe when I see them squeeze through tight spots, do technical manoeuvres AND park the bloody big things. 👏🏻
I can’t imagine people are actually smirking, after all, passengers are using your skills to get to where they need to be.
Hats off to you.
Reframe it, say it with pride “”I’m a bus driver. I get people to work, hospital appointments and other important events that they would miss if people like me didn’t do the job”

A job is a job is a job. If you’re earning money for yourself and contributing to society, you’re doing great. People who think they’re amazing because of what they’ve ended up doing to earn money are just arrogant arseholes. At the end of the day we all need money for food and housing and that’s all a job is really!

You are working and earning so well done! I've driven since I was a teen but don't think I'd have the confidence to drive a bus through a city centre- so you are braver than me!

If you are wanting more money/status, apparently train/tube drivers work a 32hr week for £70,000+! Also far less interaction with customers.

What? You have a job which is hard and working with the mostly shitty public but so needed. There's bus strikes in a city I work in today! Good for them. Shit for everyone else but important to value them. You're amazing. You can do whatever you like ! Just give yourself time. Xx

I don't have a car. I can afford one but don't want one as I am in Central London. I rely on buses and certainly don't think anyone who drives one is embarassing

A couple of my friends became bus drivers a few years ago. Good for them! It seems to oay decent wages. I admire them, and you, for being able to drive the enormous things! It's an important job, thank you. I drive (a car) but I also uses buses often, so very grateful for all the drivers out there. Anyone who has to deal with the general public is a star in my view.

I'm 39 & a bus driver, I spend all day driving double deckers. Most people are usually amazed when I tell them what I do (woman driving something that big!) & they all say something along the lines of "good for you, I could never drive anything that big". Never thought I'd like the job but I love it

I don’t think they’re looked down on at all! I think it’s a perfectly valid and worthwhile job.

Why?
The people who smirk at you will have used buses at some point. They are the snobby ones that should be shamed. Not you.

Please please do not equate your age with what you should be earning. There is no such thing as having to earn a certain amount at a certain age.
Does it pay for the life you have? That is all that matters.

I think being a bus driver is an exceedingly skilled job and public transport is an absolutely critical service for so many people.

You’re doing a vital job, and a skilled one too.

You have nothing to feel embarrassed about.

My dad was a bus driver almost all his working life. I an immensely proud and in awe of him for being able to work shifts, never be able to work from home, do what is essentially a difficult physical job for limited financial reward. But as others have said, its an essential job that makes the world go round. We can't all be CEO's or influencers. Hold your head high.

Driving around Surrey in a Bus some people, especially students have just smirked or treated me like I’m stupid.

Fuuuuck I could never look down on a bus driver, they put up with some shit!! Solid folks

Also it pays £38,000 for a normal 40 hour week, obviously you can get overtime, so you can easily earn over £40,000 a year.

The joke is on them right now. The job market is dire and they wont be guaranteed a job when they graduate. They just don't realise it yet.
Hold your head up high. You are doing great.

I love bus drivers. You great people get me where I need to be!
Plus you have skills that most people don't have: driving a big vehicle, massive people skills, a lot of proficiency with regulations involving safety, public health and so on.
Don't be embarrassed being a bus driver, however you can feel secondhand embarrassment for the idiots who give you snide looks.

Being a bus driver is not an embarrassing job - you should be proud of it

getting people safely around, dealing with all sorts of people ( I’d be shite at that) , driving takes great skill

pull your socks up , you are living your life not the life of a loser ( like anyone who smirks at bus drivers must be )

edit to add - underpaid I think - should be more than a train driver

Look at it like this, OP. You have a job that can’t be automated via a computer program or AI. You don’t sell a product or provide a service that people can find cheaper on the internet, with the resulting reduction in job opportunities. You don’t work in an industry where you’re likely to be affected by ageism.

People will always need to get where they’re going! You have a useful and largely future proof job - that’s not be be sneezed at.