Excuse me sir....
Yesterday I had a new experience as a bus driver. I relieved a driver who had accumulated a medium sized load of people on a bus that was heading up river to my old hometown. As he left his post in the drivers' seat he told me a few bits of pertinent information about the passengers on board and wished me luck with one, who had apparently been asleep since he got on over an hour prior.
I took my position behind the wheel, adjusted everything that needed adjusting and then closed the door, released the break and off we went. Everything was going great. Passengers got on, passengers got off. I had a couple of folks who had only paid for a base fare zone that didn't have hat checks when they tried getting off in a different fare zone. Of course they tried to give me a hard time but realized I wasn't opening the door to let them off until they paid for their full ride.
It wasn't until I pulled the bus into the station at the end of the line that an interesting and kinda scary event happened. The sleeping man was still in his seat. He had his right arm propped up on the back of the seat next to him, kinda woven through the hand hold at the top of the head rest. His head was bowed forward and he was VERY still.
"Excuse me sir, this is the end of the line. Time to get off the bus."
I was met with still silence. I was concerned but tried again, this time shaking the right hand that was upon the head rest.
"Excuse me sir, you need to wake up. We're at the end of the line and you need to get off the bus." I said as I gently shook his hand.
Again, met with still silence. I looked closely at his chest to see if he was breathing, because when I touched his hand it was VERY cold. Of course my mind began racing with how to deal with a dead body on the bus. This was really gonna put me behind schedule, plus it's just creepy to think there has been some dead guy sitting there while other people full of life just bustled around him.
So the third time I attempted to wake him I placed my hand on his shoulder, shaking harder, saying the same as I had before. That time he finally stirred, his mouth slid open and a pool of drool fell upon his lap and his eyes slitted open. I could tell he was going to be slow to rouse. So I spoke again, explaining we were at the final stop and he needed to wake up and get off the bus.
It felt like it took 10 minutes to get him up and moving around. He was confused, disoriented, couldn't really walk or stand without swaying and nearly falling. I was worried but there were other people around at the station and I figured that if worse came to worse, someone else could deal with calling for help.
He did manage to get off the bus and I was able to leave the station and make my way to my next destination. The route I was running required me to make a loop and pick up people on another side of town not as frequently serviced by the bus as the rest of town and end up back at the station before heading back into Charleston.
When I arrived back at the station some twenty minutes later there was "the sleeper", cup of coffee in hand and looking a little more alert. He wanted to ride back up to Charleston because he missed his stop since he had fallen asleep. I asked him to please try to stay awake for the trip and to please NOT spill his coffee.
"If you spill it and make a mess, I'm going to have to ask you to get off the bus. Since I'm giving you this information now, I don't want you making a fuss if you spill it and have to get off, deal?"
"Okay...." he replied.
It was a very busy day and it seemed like every corner had people wanting to ride the bus on the way back to town. The bus was quite crowded by the time I neared the city limits. And then it happened...
"Awww man you just spilled that coffee everywhere dude. Hey driver do you have any paper towels or napkins?"
"Behind my seat." I informed the passenger. I saw his reflection as he got out of his seat (beside the sleeper guy) and made his way up to retrieve some napkins.
At the next stop I had one passenger waiting for the bus and as I pulled up to the curb I set the brake. I accepted the new passengers fare and then turned in my seat and looked at the sleeper guy.
"You know our deal... there's another bus behind me about 10 minutes. Ride his bus the rest of the way to town.' I said to him.
"Okay..." as he made his way out the door he added, "I'm sorry."
I took my position behind the wheel, adjusted everything that needed adjusting and then closed the door, released the break and off we went. Everything was going great. Passengers got on, passengers got off. I had a couple of folks who had only paid for a base fare zone that didn't have hat checks when they tried getting off in a different fare zone. Of course they tried to give me a hard time but realized I wasn't opening the door to let them off until they paid for their full ride.
It wasn't until I pulled the bus into the station at the end of the line that an interesting and kinda scary event happened. The sleeping man was still in his seat. He had his right arm propped up on the back of the seat next to him, kinda woven through the hand hold at the top of the head rest. His head was bowed forward and he was VERY still.
"Excuse me sir, this is the end of the line. Time to get off the bus."
I was met with still silence. I was concerned but tried again, this time shaking the right hand that was upon the head rest.
"Excuse me sir, you need to wake up. We're at the end of the line and you need to get off the bus." I said as I gently shook his hand.
Again, met with still silence. I looked closely at his chest to see if he was breathing, because when I touched his hand it was VERY cold. Of course my mind began racing with how to deal with a dead body on the bus. This was really gonna put me behind schedule, plus it's just creepy to think there has been some dead guy sitting there while other people full of life just bustled around him.
So the third time I attempted to wake him I placed my hand on his shoulder, shaking harder, saying the same as I had before. That time he finally stirred, his mouth slid open and a pool of drool fell upon his lap and his eyes slitted open. I could tell he was going to be slow to rouse. So I spoke again, explaining we were at the final stop and he needed to wake up and get off the bus.
It felt like it took 10 minutes to get him up and moving around. He was confused, disoriented, couldn't really walk or stand without swaying and nearly falling. I was worried but there were other people around at the station and I figured that if worse came to worse, someone else could deal with calling for help.
He did manage to get off the bus and I was able to leave the station and make my way to my next destination. The route I was running required me to make a loop and pick up people on another side of town not as frequently serviced by the bus as the rest of town and end up back at the station before heading back into Charleston.
When I arrived back at the station some twenty minutes later there was "the sleeper", cup of coffee in hand and looking a little more alert. He wanted to ride back up to Charleston because he missed his stop since he had fallen asleep. I asked him to please try to stay awake for the trip and to please NOT spill his coffee.
"If you spill it and make a mess, I'm going to have to ask you to get off the bus. Since I'm giving you this information now, I don't want you making a fuss if you spill it and have to get off, deal?"
"Okay...." he replied.
It was a very busy day and it seemed like every corner had people wanting to ride the bus on the way back to town. The bus was quite crowded by the time I neared the city limits. And then it happened...
"Awww man you just spilled that coffee everywhere dude. Hey driver do you have any paper towels or napkins?"
"Behind my seat." I informed the passenger. I saw his reflection as he got out of his seat (beside the sleeper guy) and made his way up to retrieve some napkins.
At the next stop I had one passenger waiting for the bus and as I pulled up to the curb I set the brake. I accepted the new passengers fare and then turned in my seat and looked at the sleeper guy.
"You know our deal... there's another bus behind me about 10 minutes. Ride his bus the rest of the way to town.' I said to him.
"Okay..." as he made his way out the door he added, "I'm sorry."
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