Less talking, more listening
I don’t like talking on the bus. It’s my time to zone out, think, listen to music, whatever. But not to make chit chat. Now maybe as a driver (Leon, care to jump in?) it helps pass the time, but I’ve seen more than a few clingy talkative riders that just won’t leave the driver alone. This is a tale of two such clingy talkative riders.
When I walked onto the bus yesterday to go home, the driver was in the midst of getting his ear talked off by a guy sitting directly behind him. The driver then asked him who he bet on winning the superbowl. Talky guy responded by asking “Who’s favored?”
At that point another clingy talky rider (we’ll call him talky2) started laughing almost hysterically and said “Ha! Who’s favored? The superbowl is over!” The bus driver giggled and then talky guy1 got really defensive and said “Well not everyone cares about football!” At that point talky guy1 began pouting and talky guy2 took over.
For the next 25 minutes this guy talked to the driver, with each sentence leaning closer and futher off the edge of the seat. It was like he had never had such a captive audience before and believe me he used it. They covered a lot of ground although they mainly focused on superbowl talk. For the most part the driver didn’t mind and seemed to maybe even enjoy it, but then the talky guy said “shit.” The driver got quiet and politely told him that he can’t cuss. It didn’t even phase talky guy and he just kept right on talking. He swore two or three more times and each time the driver warned him that he could get him in trouble but still the talky guy just kept right on.
I wish the story ended with talky guy learning his lesson, but the only thing that happened was right before my stop a guy walked past talky guy and said in a very irritated nasal tone “You were really distracting. You should talk less.” After he got off the driver asked “Did that guy say something to you?” Talky guy said he hadn’t heard.
Feb 21st, 2007 at 6:57 pm
I appreciate talkative riders when it’s late and night not busy, but when it’s busy, getting sucked into a conversation can mean missing stops and a greater chance of smacking another car.
I got plenty of people talking my ear off about the Superbowl (I worked that night), and since I don’t care at all about football, all I could really do was smile and nod.
Feb 24th, 2007 at 8:08 am
It could be an awful lot worse than the super bowl. I was on the 18 bus route back before they brought in the light rail and this wierd guy with his kid wouldnt leave the bus driver alone. He kept talking about his martial arts skills (trust me, a lie) and then concocted some story about his Chuck-Norris-like exploits where he beat up almost everyone in his high school including the principal. The whole time I was staring, listening and pitying that poor child, as well as the driver.
Feb 24th, 2007 at 9:05 am
Chuck-Norris-like exploits…haha, awesome! Good thing you didn’t say anything or you wouldn’t be here to comment