Hit The Road Jack!

I got more than a few emails today asking why I was calling out that Driver in my previous post - why I was being so negative.
I wasn't being negative, I was making a point and I forgot to finish, sorry.
But I did call that driver out because that driver is an embarrassment to RTD, to the rest of us Drivers.

That driver is not from the privates, where you expect crappy behavior and service.
That driver is supposed to be one of us, one of the good guys.

And I mentioned that driver has been here a crap load of years.
There are a bunch of drivers like that driver:
Inconsiderate, sloppy, dirty and not team players.
Well, I take that back because if you're a unionist, an entitleist then you are the team for which these drivers play!

That's because in the real world, at normal companies these drivers (employees) would have been fired almost immediately.
But the union forces RTD to keep crappy employees like this.
And these drivers are so far up the food chain, having been here (survived) for years and years, through good and bad - that they feel like nothing can touch them, they are invincible.
And to tell you the truth, they are!

They get up to something like ten "occurrences" before they get fired.
Per year!
Meaning as the first occurrence expires and disappears from their records, they have another get out of jail free card.
And the union defends them to the bitter end.
And these older drivers are hard core solid through and through union supporters.
So the union keeps them really close.

Another really cushy job is what's called the loop extra.
A driver pulls out an extra bus, not on any route or schedule and he sits at a station and waits.
Waits up to 10 hours for a call to come that he needs to take the bus to another driver whose bus has broken down.
Then the loop extra sits with the broken bus until it either gets fixed or towed back to the garage.
And if that driver still has time, he pulls out another bus and goes and sits.
Many of these drivers brag about how they go to sleep during their shifts and can sit for usually the whole shift without having to move.
These runs are usually sucked up by the drivers with the most seniority and disappear quickly.

So when a lowly Driver like me has his bus break down and needs to get a new bus delivered by the loop extras, you'd expect that loop extra had the bus all ready - you know, team work and giving me the best possible advantage and chance to get ahead, back on schedule and to be successful.
Meaning that the bus would be cleaned, have all the needed supplies, windows & mirrors cleaned and clear and depending on the weather, cooled or heated up.

But without exception (in my experience) the buses have zilch...
No supplies, you can barely see out the windows AND the buses smell like nasty musty sweat from the driver being asleep inside, no deodorant (he knows he doesn't have to deal with the public so he doesn't give a crap and probably didn't even shower by the smell of it!) and smells like he soiled his underwear (please God let him have underwear on so I'm not sitting in his bare butt nasty sweat/feces...)

And they don't care.
No team work.
They are senior drivers, the union protects them and they can survive unscathed - any complaints from either customers or co-workers.
In fact, they are rubber and we are glue - complaints bounce off them and stick to us!
We get transferred to far away districts such as Boulder or East Metro and they survive to terrorize more co-workers and customers...

I've said this many times and will probably say it many more.
The union is VERY bad for RTD, for Drivers and for YOU - the customer/passenger.
They allow these entitleists to hang around like bad farts that you just can't shake.

LOL, that's another story.
Remind me to tell you about the passenger who asked me if he could hop off the bus for a minute - out of respect for the other passengers and me - so that he can "flatulate" and air out.
He did but he brought it back with him and we all thought we would die, even with all the windows open and me speeding, trying to get the wind blowing through!
LOL - there really is a devil and it lives in that guy's booty...

Ok, rants over for now.

As Always, "Welcome Aboard, Find your seats, Don't fart on the bus - Let's Roll!"