Bullies

Bullies come in all shapes and sizes. They can be the smallest child, or your boss at work. Bullying should not be tolerated in any shape or form whether it be in the workplace, at school, or at home. As a bus driver, I look out for bullies. I put a stop to bullying on any bus that I drive immediately.

Sometimes I am the one bullied by the students. Or, at least they try to bully me. It doesn't work the way they plan because I typically go toe to toe, nose to nose with them and let them know that they do not intimidate me. Often, bullies are simply looking for the attention of the victim and other students.

This week, I experienced a high schooler who tried to push my buttons by telling other students around him lies about me. He deliberately sat 3 seats behind me so that he would be close enough to the front so that I could hear his obnoxious comments. In this case, he was looking for a reaction. I wasn't going to give him the satisfaction. He wanted me to get in a confrontation with him because he kept saying he would "cuss" me out. Funny enough, his beef with me spanned back 4-5 months when I last drove that bus. I couldn't figure out why he was so upset with me as a driver, but apparently I did something that made him angry enough to be as obnoxious as he was. I let him off and didn't let it worry me, but I did notify my boss and pulled the tape.

Later that afternoon, he continued his taunting, but not until we were almost to his stop. Then it hit me. The route is located in an area that has one road that is paved with dead end roads jutting out from it. The route, as I learned it, dropped the last stop off at the intersection of two of these dead end roads and the main road. It has always been this way, and I had not been notified of any changes. The last time I was on the bus, the kids tried to tell me that the driver now went down the dead end roads. The truth is, we only go down the dead end roads when it is raining.

The boy who was taunting me got off at the last stop in the afternoon.

He simply did not want to walk down the road. It only hit me when I pulled up to the last stop and opened the door and said politely, "Have a nice day." The boy got so angry and upset and started running his mouth while he got off the bus. He happened to get on at a different stop in the morning, so the location of the stop confused me. In the end, I got him back, because he had to walk anyways.

I found out later, that the new bus driver had changed the route around and hadn't told anyone or cleared it with the bossman. So as a result, I legitimately did not know about any changes in the route. In the end, I got back at the boy. He deserved it!

Bouncing down the road!

The Bus Driver