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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to call the bus driver a tw@t I was angry?

39 replies

LolaTheShowgirl · 08/08/2008 12:07

first of all i'm supposed to be on holiday so i was all happy and everything on the bus on my way to the beach today but then we stopped to let an elderly man on who must've been in his late 80s by looking at him. The bus driver turned him away because there was just 1 MINUTE to go before he could use his oap free pass. These buses are every 20 minutes.

I was so angry with the driver that I loudly huffed and shook my head and he could see thru his mirror then when I went to get off I didn't thank him as I usually do all bus drivers. He said 'don't say thanks then' so I replied 'why should I when you turn old folk away with a minute to go - we were at the stop for more than a minute while someone else got on' and he said 'don't even start, i'm not in the mood' to which I said 'do you even know what customer service is and then he started on about if he didn't have such troublesome customers like me his job would be so much easier.

I loudly replied 'tw@t!' I never swear (well hardly ever) but he really angered me!

OP posts:
UnquietDad · 08/08/2008 12:09

What a jobsworth! Our bus drivers will usually allow flexibility. After all, if he'd got one one or two stops up the road it would be valid.

CouldYouWouldYouWithaGoat · 08/08/2008 12:10

yabu, bus drivers have to put up with all sorts of crap why add to it.

Lovemyshoes · 08/08/2008 12:11

I would have done the same to be honest.

Bloody idiot

Original poster
LolaTheShowgirl · 08/08/2008 12:13

yes unquietdad, he could've let him on and scanned his pass at the next stop at something!

cywywag, I understand but really, why should I be nice when he's not doing his job properly? It was 8am in the morning, he probably hadn't had too much sh1t already to cope with?! Should I have just accepted that this old man was not treated with a bit of respect?

OP posts:
MmeLindt · 08/08/2008 12:18

You were quite right.

Bus drivers maybe have to put up with a lot of crap, but surely they can still retain a bit of human decency. Would have been any skin off his back to let the eldery passenger on one minute early?

wheresthehamster · 08/08/2008 12:18

Did he REALLY say "don't say thanks then"??

I do think though that even if you are having a shitty day, you wouldn't actually START something like that unless you were looking for an arguement

BigGitDad · 08/08/2008 12:20

And ther you have it in a nutshell the concept of service in this country. I have just come back from France where people are so polite they say hello to each other evey time you go into a shop etc.
I would complain to the bus service company. I complained once when I saw a bus driver pull away from a bus stop at 10pm with a young girl clearly running towards the bus stop waving and shouting.

RedHead81 · 08/08/2008 12:22

I agree that he was being arsey about it, but if he had scanned his pass (do they need scanning - I don't know, I don't use a bus) then the bus driver may have been reprimanded, also he couldn't have allowed him to get on and scan it at the next stop because insurance would not have covered the man. Surely he could have let him on after the other person a minute later??? There was no need to make the man wait another 20mins, a little flaxibility goes a long way and if he hates his job so much then maybe he should look for another one!

piratecat · 08/08/2008 12:22

h knnew he was in the wrong, and that yuo had glared at him and huffed, so he had to come back at you by saying 'aren't you goung to say thanks then'.

Typical guilty response, trying to antaginise it further, to get a reaction out of you, and make it sem like it was you who was being unreasonable.

i would have done the same. in fact i prob would have sais somehting and put myslef in a posiotion of being chukced off the bus.

I can't bear people who are so bloody rude, and disrespectful.

PhyllidaPoisson · 08/08/2008 12:25

I'm surprised he said "don't say thanks, then".

When we get off the bus, and the DCs and I say thank you, the drivers usually look quite surprised, as it is not the norm.

MrsSchadenfreude · 08/08/2008 12:26

Mmm, no. Although I do rather hate the "Twirlies" - not the ones who turn up a minute before they can get on the bus but those who are there about two hours before they're allowed to use the bus saying "Am I too early?"
To which one bus driver replied "Yes, you are, love, and you know you are, so either pay the full fare or piss off home and come back at 9.30!"

Tortington · 08/08/2008 12:28

formal complaint formal complaint!!

Tortington · 08/08/2008 12:28

formal complaint formal complaint!!

solo · 08/08/2008 12:38

Having been a bus driver, I know too well what allowing someone on the bus too early can do...revenue inspectors don't always wear uniform and being caught doing that kind of thing is a disciplinary offence. However!, I would have found a way of losing that minute to let the old chap on.
Please do remember though, what utter crap bus drivers put up with...one of the reasons I left - that and the fact that they refused to let me have the permanent destination ' Not in Service' lol!

TinkerBellesMum · 08/08/2008 12:38

YANBU, I think I would have made plenty of noise about it! Definitely complain about it - sounds like he got out the wrong side of bed!

I don't know how he wouldn't have been insured. He had a bus pass on him and unless the bus was in a collision within the next 50 seconds it would have been valid, no one knows if it has been swiped/ entered. In the time he spent debating it the one minute would probably have been up anyway - I would have made sure I spent a minute debating it anyway!

I had a driver once not take my money, I asked him for a day saver and he said "evening savers start in 10 minutes, buy one on the next bus".

VictorianSqualor · 08/08/2008 12:42

Complain to the bus company. We recently had a new driver join the local bus company that was being a nobcheese.

He was arriving at the school bus stop 2 or 3 minutes before let out because it suited him to get back to town early so he could sit and read his paper before his next route.

solo · 08/08/2008 12:43

If the old chap had fallen on the bus he would not have been insured - he had not 'paid his fare' (yes I know he had a free pass)in principal. It is for passenger protection after all. I would still have lost that minute though.

ForeverOptimistic · 08/08/2008 12:47

YABU, no reason to swear. Up until that point everyone on the bus was probably supporting you.

kslatts · 08/08/2008 12:53

If you complain to the bus company I assume they will agree with their driver as he was just following the company's rules.

edam · 08/08/2008 12:54

lol at UQD praising French manners - assume you didn't go to Paris, then?

laweaselmys · 08/08/2008 13:23

Some bus drivers are great and some are awful I always get really annoyed thinking about a time (years ago) when I was having a rough time, I was down to quite literally my last ten pound note, and had no other change having spent it on food shopping. Got half way home to find the bloody cucumber had split one of the bags in half, food going everywhere and would have totally wasted that last bit of cash if I spilt it all over the road!! Jumped on the next bus as my house was by the next stop. When I gave the driver a tenner and said I only wanted to go one stop he had a go at me for being rich and lazy!! Was too shocked to say anything, but still angry that he'd made such judgements about me, espeically when they were utterly wrong.

So frankly, I'm glad you had the balls to say something, although possibly calling him names was a bit far, if understandable.

wasabipeanut · 08/08/2008 13:25

You prob shouldn't have called him a twat but I can sort of see why you did.

dittany · 08/08/2008 13:28

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

domesticslattern · 08/08/2008 13:32

Bus drivers get so much grief. I just don't think you should add to it, even if he was being a jobsworth.

Round here, they get sacked for breaking the rules, if they are caught by an inspector.

I was on a bus recently where someone threatened to rip the driver's head off. When we remonstrated he said, deon't bother mate, I get it every day.

notcitrus · 08/08/2008 15:08

Unless the bus was running early, in which case it should have sat at that bus stop for at least a minute, the man should have known he couldn't use his pass until the 20-min-later bus and not put the driver in the position of telling him the pass wasn't valid.

Have to admit I'd be more annoyed with someone huffing at me rather than actually arguing with me at the time. Round my way they're desperate for drivers because they get paid crap wages and take so much abuse - so anyone with a driving licence can drive a bus. Knowing the route, names of landmarks on it, or any English at all is a bonus.

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