Oh, what a week.
The highlight of my week was: A kid just passing by, who stopped when he saw me arguing with a bus driver, to try and help me. I wish I’d been more appreciative of his effort, but at the time I was too steaming mad…
The low of my week was: Dealing with that twat of a bus driver. I came pretty close to busting out the c-word; that’s how close to the edge I’ve been operating lately stress-wise and this incident nearly pushed me over. Here’s the account of events that I emailed to Auckland Transport as a complaint:
While it only added maybe 10 minutes to my journey home as another bus came along soon, and didn’t cost me any more as I had an unlimited monthly pass, it’s the bloody principle. I call UNACCEPTABLE on the entire thing. I will defend public transport to the death – I’ve relied on it for years – but even I have limits.
It’s a real shame, as literally the night before that incident, I had my BEST ever experience of Auckland transport yet: two trips in close succession, each requiring me to take two separate buses and transfer, but with hardly any wait time in between.
This time last year we were in: Paris, one of my favourite cities ever. I had a particularly strong burst of nostalgia yesterday standing in line at the French cafe next door to work …
This week’s links
Sarah Somewhere on finding peace
Michelle at FitnPoor calls quits on obsessing about her blog stats
Over at Musical Poem: How to spend 48 hours in Washington DC
Agreed on most counts! Things to know before embarking on a RTW trip, by Landing Standing
A rare gem on LinkedIn on the career myth that’s hurting millennials: “Happiness is fleeting, and cannot be achieved by finding that one catch-all job.”
Happy weekends!
Oh dear! Your bus situation sounds frustrating. I am glad you made it home safely, thank you for the shout out! 🙂
Oh snap! What a horrible bus driver!!! Did you get a response to your complaint? I’m really curious especially because one time I laid a complaint over the phone, detailing times, bus number and bus stop number, then received an email “confirming” the details, which had completely incorrect information! Basically what happened was, two buses were late and then when a third viable bus FINALLY came… it waited for 3 of us to walk up alongside the bus… opened its doors for us, and just as we were about to get on, it closed its doors and drove off!
I got an email response a couple days later acknowledging receipt of my complaint, and saying behaviour of that sort was unacceptable and they would be looking into it. We’ll see if I hear anything further!
Wow, that bus driver situation is so annoying! I hope they take your complaint seriously.
I, too, will defend public transportation – some of the bus drivers here in SF are super sweet – but there are those who are the exact opposite.
ohhhboy! One of the several reasons public transit is such a hard sell to most Americans.