Beep-Beep!

The reasons why I had a bad day coupled with the validation of my belief that there is no such thing as a competent busing company:

• No working microphone on a bus tour for 56 passengers. This was a driving tour of the city. People paid to hear a local historian talk about various places of interest in Dallas. No working microphone made it hard for the paying customers to hear.



• There was no AC or heat on the bus. The lack of air circulation fogged up the windows. Besides the fact that none of the tour attendees could see what we were touring, our driver was having to continually wipe the windshield in order to see the road in front of him. I was even called upon to help out by wiping the passenger side of the windshield, so the driver could see his side view mirror and blind spots. Since the windshield was in a constant state of fog, the wiping was an activity repeated by me at least once every two minutes.



• It was raining. Hard. We had no working wind shield wipers. Call me crazy, but I feel a bus that costs $75+/an hour should have working effing windshield wipers.



• While merging onto 175, the door on the bus came open. Because of where we were (right where 175, 30, 45 and 75 all come together) we were unable to pull off safely or exit the highway for close to three miles. Since an open door created an unsafe situation for the bus, its passengers, and other vehicles on the road, I personally held the door closed until the driver was able to bring the bus to a halt safely. Somewhere around mile two, as my hands shook with the effort of keeping the door from flying open (and taking me with it), it occurred to me that I was doing something both risky and very stupid. Risky because one slip of my hands could send my body flying out onto the highway. Stupid because I suddenly remembered that I was without life insurance (thanks to my job “accidentally” canceling it awhile back).

So, yeah. Today was a grrrrrrrrrreat day. A margarita or two (or ten) await me shortly…