Driving transit is never dull. I experience all sorts of different people, on and off transit. Most people are courteous and respectful. Occasionally, we get people who expect the world to bow down to them as though they are entitled.
A few weeks back, I blogged about the lady who decided to argue over a parking space. As expected then, she didn't get her way, but it goes to show there is no boundary to rudeness. Today I pulled into Wal-Mart to let a handicapped gentleman off the bus so he could do his shopping. As I pull into the front of the store, I pass the Home Goods entrance and go to pull by the Food Center where I normally let people off and there is a big SUV parked at an angle with the majority of the vehicle blocking part of the entrance and the lane of traffic and the tail end blocking both lanes of traffic. The vehicle is clearly in a "No Parking" zone.
Rude Lady behind the wheel is busy talking with her friend at the entrance to Wal-Mart. There is clearly not enough space for me to pull around and let my passenger off without blocking traffic or causing a major traffic jam in both directions. I pull up and wait for her to notice me and give her a chance to politely end her conversation, or at least make arrangements for the conversation to be continued at a later time. Rude Lady glances my way and returns to her conversation, effectively ignoring me. I beep the horn twice and raise my hands as if to ask, "Are you going to move?" She glares at me and then pulls her vehicle a couple feet up and towards the entrance, still in the "No Parking" zone and still blocking at least one lane of traffic.
I barely had enough room to pull around her large SUV and had space to let down the wheelchair lift. As I pulled to the side very carefully, the gentleman in the wheelchair remarked, "I think she gave you the finger!" I hadn't noticed if she had because I was too busy maneuvering my large bus around her wrongly parked SUV. As I let down the lift, I pulled a Wal-Mart employee aside and pointed her out and suggested they tell her to move because she was clearly blocking traffic or call the police to get her to move. Rude Lady and her friend are glaring at me as are their kids.
The Wal-Mart employee approached her and told her to move because she was blocking traffic, and she rolled her eyes at the employee! The sad thing is, she did this in front of her kids and her friends kids. I only wonder what these kids are learning with the disrespect their parents show.
Feeling disrespected,
The Bus Driver
