Four Calls
I thought I would spare my friend the hassle of coming all the way to pick me up in Minneapolis, so I just bussed over to St. Paul with the help of the 21. This was my first experience taking this route, and boy, was it a good one.
When we arrived at the Chicago/Lake transit station we picked up an old man who was yelling “HOLD IT! HOLD IT!” while smacking the bus with his metal cane. His monochromatic ensemble of grey track suit, cane, messenger bag, and suitcase should have been a tip off. After refusing the help of the lift he dragged his suitcase on the bus and fell into one of the front seats. The bus driver didn’t move until the man would pay his fare, to which he responded: “don’t worry, i’ll f•ckin’ pay.” We went a couple blocks…the first call to transit police.
An innocent girl got on the bus shortly thereafter and made the mistake of sitting near him. Almost immediately he scooted over and asked “who braids your hair?” To which she responded “my sister.” “WHAT?” he asked. “My sister,” she repeated. “WHAT?” he asked again, getting ever closer to her face. Eventually he caressed her head and asked “what’s your name?” She refused to tell him, to which he replied “well you OUGHT to know my name!” A couple seconds went by and he inquired about her age. “I’m fifteen,” she answered. “Well shoot! I’m 27,” he shouted. (He was clearly not 27.) Luckily the girl got off soon after.
“Sir, what’s in your bottle?” asked the woman driving the bus. “None of your f*cking business,” retorted the belligerent man. “I payed my fare, drive me to where I want to go.” Another swig of his alcoholic concoction cleverly disguised in a children’s fruit smoothie bottle and we had another call to the transit police.
A woman and her toddler got on the bus around the YWCA and this was his next muse. Throughout the rest of his ride he tried to lean over and touch the child, offer it candy, and sing to it. The woman looked ready to hit the man; the child did not say a word until after the man got off the bus.
Right after crossing the river to Marshall we picked up a handicapped man. “Sir, you’re going to have to move your suitcase to let the man on. If you don’t you’re breaking the law.” “Calm the f•ck down, woman! I’ll move it when I want!” Eventually a teenage boy came from the back of the bus and picked it up and moved it out of the way. Another call to transit police.
“Do you want to hear the best singer in the world?” he asked passengers nearby. He broke out in song, singing Temptations classics. Personally, I’ve never been more creeped out.
He got off at Snelling & University. “The drunken man is off the bus and sitting on the bench.” The fourth call to the transit police, who, the whole time, were too busy to respond to the numerous calls the driver had made.
I snapped this lovely picture of the man with my phone after he got off the bus:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mjd/2480622550/
May 27th, 2008 at 9:09 am
I have seen this person before. He does this all the time. Pretty scary.
May 30th, 2008 at 2:05 pm
He is also one of our live a boards, he had been kicked off the buses for a while, when a cop does respond THEY KNOW HIS NAME !
Jun 2nd, 2008 at 9:46 pm
Looks likes he’s taking a rest before he walks over to the liquior store that’snot far from that location!