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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

Bus driver presumed i had a bus pass

82 replies

bestthings · 22/12/2017 17:08

Aibu to feel slightly offended by this. I DO have a bus pass because i have recently become a pensioner. I really didn't think i looked that old though, especially today, was dressed trendy, had taken time with hair and makeup. But when i got on the bus, had to have a little run to get it, bus driver smiled and said, "you should have your bus pass ready" when i got my purse out. I mean, what if i wasn't a pensioner, surely he shouldn't just presume? What do you all think. Feel really old now.

OP posts:

eddiemairswife · 22/12/2017 17:39

Conversely, when I was doing my teaching practice (aged 23) and went to buy a tube ticket, the man asked if I wanted a half (under 14 then). I didn't feel flattered, just silly.

DryIce · 22/12/2017 17:39

So you're annoyed that a stranger didn't assume you were younger than you are?

If he even did, as others have pointed out any travel card can be called a bus pass.

isseywithcats · 22/12/2017 17:43

just count yourself lucky you are entitled to your free bus pass im 61 and cant get one till im 66 despite working five days a week and having to get a bus to work and one home so if they hadnt changed the rules i would be saving 320 a week instead of giving it to the bus company to say im miffed is an understatement, and having to do a very physical job for another five years is leaving me feeling a bit picked on, and before someone says i wanted eqaulity with men no i bloody well didnt would have been happy to retire this year

isseywithcats · 22/12/2017 17:44

thats £20 not 320 lol

cathyclown · 22/12/2017 17:45

I was called my sister's mother last year, as in your Mama has the last word here, we were shopping for her new sofa!

We fell down laughing. But I now know I am never going to look young anymore, but what the heck, I try and look ok, so it's someone else's problem, not mine!

It is life.

Annelind · 22/12/2017 17:46

issey same here. 1950s born women have been shat on from a great height in this regard

BertieBotts · 22/12/2017 17:50

It's because you fumbled with your purse before speaking. If you'd wanted a ticket you'd have said 'A return to the station please' and then looked in your purse. The fact you looked at your purse first implies that you don't need the driver to do anything, therefore you probably have a pass.

There are only two kinds of bus customers, and it's obvious immediately which one somebody is!

Original poster

bestthings · 22/12/2017 17:51

Perhaps i am being unreasonable, but the point i was making was that i had run for the bus so obviously didn't have it ready, i got my purse out to get the pass, obviously wouldn't have had it ready. I didn't think there was any need to say anything about a pass. My point being, i could have been an old looking 50. who would be even more hacked off than i am. There's no need for drivers to judge how old you are, you either pay with cash or produce a pass, nothing gained by saying anything really.
Just a vain person probably.

OP posts:

SandyDenny · 22/12/2017 17:52

Ellisandra - comments like yours are why people have to gives stupid “lighthearted” warnings on threads nowadays, can't people have a little moan without fun sponges turning up

Evelynismyspyname · 22/12/2017 17:57

My 12 year old has a bus pass.

Every single school morning either DH or I waves her off from the door step and call after her as she walks down the drive "have you got your bus pass?" To which she responds by waving it at us (it's in a sparkly purple bus pass holder...).

Original poster

bestthings · 22/12/2017 17:57

issey i sympathise, i really do. I am very grateful for the bus pass and also relieved that i'm now retired. I think i should have put light hearted in the title. I was just feeling old....

I feel so sorry for anyone being forced to work till they're 66. It's bloody unfair, i feel knackered half the time, the government presumably wish we'd all work till we drop.

OP posts:

JosephineBucket · 22/12/2017 17:59

isseywithcats While I totally agree that 1950s women have been royally screwed, would you have been able to use it for work? DM has to pay for any travel that is isn't off peak (earlier than 9.30).

hks · 22/12/2017 18:00

i wish i had a bus pass it would save me a fortune. as pp says lots of people have bus passes for whatever reasons not just over 60

limitedperiodonly · 22/12/2017 18:01

issey and Annelind get to the back of the bus queue. My mum could trump you. She was called up as a clippie on the London buses during the Blitz. Terrifying times. She never got free Tube travel because she was outside a London borough. She didn't like it but 1950s born women don't know they're born compared to the ones born in the 1920s

TempusEejit · 22/12/2017 18:01

It was probably because you took your purse out without saying anything.

If you were buying a ticket, then you would've asked him for one as soon as you got on.

SaucyJack has it sussed.

Original poster

bestthings · 22/12/2017 18:02

There are only two kinds of bus customers, and it's obvious immediately which one somebody is!
Well i don't know about that. I know i'm one of the quick sort, no fumbling, no asking directions etc, just today got caught out because i had to run. Some people hold the bus up for ages.

OP posts:

Evelynismyspyname · 22/12/2017 18:02

I also find it quite off-putting that people are offended at the idea they look their age.

I look my age, I really don't want to be younger - I've done that bit... I don't get the cult of youth or the need for others to see you as something you're not...

Undercoverbanana · 22/12/2017 18:02

Lots of people don't live long enough to get a bus pass. It's a massive privilege. My stepmother died at 56 and her retirement age would have been 60 (back in the day!). What a fucking waste of saving for retirement. Embrace it. Own it. Fuck it. That's what my retired mate says.

MissBax · 22/12/2017 18:03

He probably just meant your bus ticket, whether it's a day ticket, week ticket, student ticket, or pensioners pass.
It's a generic term.

jay55 · 22/12/2017 18:05

Surely the bus driver sees a wide range of people every day who have bus passes, and has a good idea what people look like that are the right age.
In the U.K. I think almost everyone who is 60-70 looks 20 years younger than people who were 60-70 30 years ago.

isseywithcats · 22/12/2017 18:08

limitedperiodonly you win :) what miffed me was they upped the stakes just before i was the right age to retire lol

isseywithcats · 22/12/2017 18:11

and no i would be using it to get home only but as i live in one town and work in another i have to get a more expensive weekly bus pass than a local one , local one town is £11 a week and two town one is £20 a week

Original poster

bestthings · 22/12/2017 18:13

You're right undercover, i shouldn't be so damn shallow. I realise ibu, i just needed reminding i suppose.

OP posts:

crazycatgal · 22/12/2017 18:20

Bus pass can refer to a weekly bus ticket as well, don't assume that he necessarily meant the free bus pass.

Original poster

bestthings · 22/12/2017 18:29

Yes i know there's different types of bus passes. But i could have been getting my purse out to pay with money. If i was a bus driver i'd just wait and see rather than risk getting it wrong. When you think about it isn't it a great way to put a woman down if you're that sort of bloke.

OP posts:

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