You Late For An Important Date?

Lemme tell ya...

I soooo rarely "lose it" and it takes sooo much to push me to that point.
Usually when I get close I just stop, take a breath and move on.

And I take the bus back and forth almost every day, just like my passengers.
I know what it's like to miss my connections by one or two minutes and see the bus driving away.
Having to sit for sometimes 30 more minutes until the next bus comes.
But unlike some people, I plan ahead and I'm usually early.
Late buses or missed connections only get me where I wanted to go - "On Time" rather than early.

Today I was Driving a very packed and "busy" route.
A ton of professionals heading home.
It's early evening.
We're actually running a minute or two early.

When we come to a stop with a passenger who wants to board but needs the Lift.
So we stop, take an extra minute or two to accommodate the passenger and get on our way.

One of the regulars towards the front of the bus is being a jerk...checking his watch and giving me crusties through the mirror.
He keeps sighing out loud, looking at his watch as if it changed in the last 3 seconds since he checked it.

Normally I just ignore that and drive on, happy to be working and happy to have 59 other happy passengers.
But this passenger actually drew me close to stopping, opening the door and asking him to get out.
It's not my right, nor my job and the guy was never openly rude to the other passenger who needed the lift and seemingly ruined this guy's day!
And of course I didn't do it, I know better.

But I'll tell ya - I wanted to soo badly and that's so unlike me.
We never fell behind schedule and he wasn't "inconvenienced" but still...

Just be patient and polite.
It goes a long way when you're stuffed into a busy bus full of other passengers who just want to get home.
We all want to move as quickly and on time as possible.
One passenger being a jerk just slows us all down and draws a dark cloud over the rest of us.

Ugh - I'd rather be happy than be upset and offended like that guy made me feel today.

Sorry to the other passengers if you saw the smile fade for even a second.
I tried to recover as quickly as possible.
One passenger even asked me soon after, "You love your job, don't you? It shows!"

As always, "Welcome aboard, find your seats - Let's Roll!"