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Farewell
55 replies
LittleSpooky said on May 3, 2005 17:39:
I know most people here don’t give much of a rat’s ass for me, but here goes:
I might be disappearing for a while. I’ve been placed on administrative leave, pending the outcome of the “investigation” they have going on me. I’ve been told flat out that I’m a “bad driver with a shitty attitude” by my superiors. However, I have received my 7 Years Accident Free Award, so I don’t hold much on the bad driver bullshit. I’ll admit I’m not the warmest person to deal with at times... but I have been working exceptionally hard on not wanting to bounce passengers through the windshield.
I honestly feel that I won’t have a job after this, but if I do... ... well, I can honestly say that I don’t really want to go back to working for a company that continually rapes the morale of their employees. If you’re not an automaton, you’re worthless to them.
Anyway... I’ll let those that care know when I’m leaving (the company will have to fire me and I’ll apply for unemployment).
Jud (moderator) said on May 3, 2005 21:30:
:S and what are they investigating? they ask all possible passangers if u were nice to them that one time they stepped on your buss? :S
good luck
harriej said on May 3, 2005 22:32:
Good luck in finding a new job!
But does this mean you dissapear from TDR as well??
LittleSpooky said on May 4, 2005 02:24:
Harrie: I might be off-line for a bit due to financial constraints is what I’m saying.
Jude: I *WISH*. The fun part is: I can name at LEAST 5 other drivers who have WORSE attitudes than I do and THEY STILL HAVE JOBS!!!!
That’s what’s pissin me off.
Kazza said on May 4, 2005 06:10:
I’m really sorry to hear about your situation. I hope everything works out for you and you’re back here soon. We’ll miss you!
I catch the bus to work quite often and I find more often than not, it’s the customers with the bad attitude, not the drivers. Same with the supermarket where I work.
People these days just don’t have the common courtesy and respect that they used to. They want to get where they’re going NOW and they’ll shove anyone out of their way to get there!
Best of luck.
ally77 said on May 4, 2005 07:51:
I agree customers can be real arses at time... same here in this job, some of the attitudes on the customers really gets my back up at times... although I can be quite rude back to them!
Gotta admit though we have a friendly bus crew where I am... my dad use to be a bus driver.... for 15 years till they fired him!
ragdoll said on May 4, 2005 09:21:
oops Little Spooky. I guess it’s your attitude your bosses have a problem with. It sounds like you’re a good driver. I have only bad experiences with bus drivers. I hate to take the bus because of the attitude of the drivers sometimes. I don’t know you Little Spooky so I can’t comment on your attitude but I guess bosses don’t take such drastic actin for no reason. I’m sorry that this has happened to you anyway. it’s a bummer. If you lose your job will that go on your record and prevent you from getting another job?
coyboyusa said on May 4, 2005 17:02:
before they can you please run over some people for me :) just joking hope all turns out well
zaine said on May 4, 2005 18:01:
I hope everything turns out good for you. This kinda makes me angry that I never took the chance to speak with you properly and find out about you, you were always one of the most interesting characters imho. but for sure I will miss you and your voice of reason on here!
LittleSpooky said on May 5, 2005 03:09:
Ragdoll: I will admit that I am not the most cuddly person to walk the face of the earth. Ask many people here. I have hammered, nailed, and tattooed MANY people on this forum on one topic or another, but at the same time:
There are other drivers with attitudes worse than mine. My mom was on the bus one time and she suffers from Bell’s Palsy. One of the side effects of that is dry mouth. She always carries a water bottle with her and she pulled it out to solve the dry mouth when the driver (a CO-WORKER of mine) told her to “Cap it and stow it or else lose it.” Not even an “I’m sorry, but there’s no eating or drinking on the bus” or anything of the like. She didn’t call it in because she figured that it’d already been a long day for the driver or something and she just let it pass.
There are drivers who have accidents on their records that are classified as such to require retraining so as NOT to hit things (these would be accidents where the operator is charged with some amount of culpability). Our Accident forms are the same forms we use for Incidents (so we call em ’green sheets’... they are green). If my superiors would actually go back and look at all of my green sheets for the last year or so... they’re all Incident Reports that I’ve filled out because someone’s fallen or they’ve caused a ruckus and I’ve reported it and been instructed to fill it out. NONE of them have been for Accidents!
So what the hell is it that makes me so damned special that they have to put me on leave to figure out whether or not they want to fire me?
RobS said on May 5, 2005 11:59:
That’s just terrible, especially when you know there are others with worse attitudes. I hope everything works out well for you.
I don’t think it’ll be the same around here without your witty posts.
coyboyusa said on May 5, 2005 13:21:
lol i get pissed when bus drivers try to get me to throw away freshly bought cups of coffe, one winter a driver told me flat out get off my bus with that coffee, so i poured it all over the stpes paid my fair and giggled to the back of the bus i hate really rude bus drivers
ally77 said on May 5, 2005 13:25:
@ coyboyusa but the point is not all bus drivers are rude... some are really pleasant and helpful, some are arses... but of course I have never been on a bus in the USA so I cannot really comment!
I have witnessed a few racist bus drivers sometimes, you know the awkard kind that cannot be arsed giving change on a note to an asian and make them get off the bus, then the next stop they happily accept a £20 note from a white person... that really annoys me....
It annoyed me so much once this heavily pregnant woman had no change is was pissing down outside and she had to get up to the hospital (my bus route is direct to the main hospital) so I was so annoyed at the attitude of the driver I paid her fare.... I thought for the sake of 80p.....
Bus drivers like change, so I keep a jar and ensure I buy a bus pass every week using all silve coins! I am just waiting for one of them to moan that I pay in small change! GOD HELP HIM!
Jud (moderator) said on May 5, 2005 15:00:
I met the nicer bus drivers in Sweden, what shocked me the first time I took a bus in Sweden was that.. it was a woman driving! All bus drivers in my city Lleida in Spain I had seen until then were men.. :O
Here in Austria bus drivers tend to be ok, nicer than in Spain at least, but tram drivers are nicer, I think. At least if they see you running to the tram they wait for you, open the door etc.. and they like it when you tell them a big thank you :) In Spain the driver looks at you, closes the door in front of your nose and laughs at u!
Train conductors are also nice, if they see people running to the train they won’t beep and close the doors, they will wait a bit (not THAT long, else they would stand there for hours ;)) which I think is nice. They even say “thank you” when they ask for the ticket and you have showed it.
Oh, see why I like Austria, people here still know what please and thank you mean!
Of course some aren’t like that and are just unpolite, but actually that’s mostly towards people who have been unpolite first, and like it or not, mostly are foreigners. This is not racism, that’s just plain facts that I have lived myself. People hold the door open for you if they see you walking in after them, say thanks if you hold the door for them.. and the only times that somebody didn’t hold the door or didn’t bother to say thanks was with foreigners (you see it by the way they dress...).
ally77 said on May 5, 2005 17:54:
Yeah I gotta admit I have always found bus drivers abroad in Europe more helpful and friendly... :)
sweet_stalker57 said on May 5, 2005 18:22:
spooks,.... ” it’s not what you know, it’s who you blow.”
one of your supervisors just don’t like you, that’s all.
and any job needs you more than you need them.
one time long ago I was on a bus and the driver was
a total tweak. I had just got on while he was messing with someone else so I missed most of it. at the next stop this kid gets off and yells “Thanks for the ride you fuckin scum bag!” and the whole bus cheers and laughs and claps. He didn’t say a word the whole way across the city.
by the way we call it the “shame train” round these parts.
:)
LittleSpooky said on May 5, 2005 20:50:
Usually, when someone dumps in my Cornflakes first, then try to convince me it’s Raisin Bran that I have a problem. I treat everyone equal, no matter if they just got on at the homeless shelter, or up in the $1million homes. It’s when they treat me like dirt that I don’t exactly love em much afterwards.
Mitya said on May 6, 2005 13:25:
sometimes buses‘ drivers are real arses too. (Little Spooks, I don‘t mean you of course!)
once I was approaching a bus-station and noticed the bus that I needed was just leaving it, moving towards me, so i waved my hand to the driver to stop for me to get on, but he decided not to stop, like all other drivers do in such cases (he has to economise fuel!), but just slow speed and open the front door. And it was dirty and slippery on the ground, so when i tried to jump into the bus I slipped and fell. of course he stopped immediately. I felt SO awkward and clumsy at that moment! I hadn‘t slipped and fallen down for some years already. Like Per sings in that song - jag trodde aldrig att jag skulle falla, that‘s how i felt! As I stood up and entered the bus I wanted so much to hit that fuckinf driver on his head. But of course it was my fault - i slipped and fell myself, but if he had stopped the bus normally like all other drivers do, then i woudn‘t have to jump and I woudn‘t slip and fall then.
LittleSpooky said on May 6, 2005 22:27:
Just a brief update for everyone here. This was turned into UTA today, from some of my passengers (since I can’t bold some of the stuff, I’m using the * instead):
“PASSNEGERS OF ROUTE 61 BUS, BOUNTIFUL VIA THE STATE CAPITOL, 4:30 SCHEDULE
We, the undersigned, would like it known that we are and have been *very pleased* with our driver, *Tara Hatch* and would like to have her continue as our regular bus driver.
Tara is a kind, caring, and professional driver, who has proven to be one of the best drivers we have had on this route. Many of us have ridden this route for years. We have endured the challenge of having a new driver every day AND have had to lead them through the route to make sure all the passengers were picked up or dropped off. We have been patient several times a year during the ’change of drivers’. We have had some real good drivers over the years, Tara being one of the best.
She remembers people’s names, lets them know they were missed if they are not on the bus for a few days, and even remembers their stops. She watches out for the ’regular’ passengers and will wait for them if she sees they are not quite to the stop when she arrives. Even to the point of waiting until the light changes so that they can cross the street and get to the bus.
Tara is good to answer questions for the passengers even if they don’t relate to this particular route and announce things if there is any type of problem that may delay the trip. If she has had to stomp on the brakes because someone has pulled out in front of her, or bad traffic problems, etc. and she is trying to avoid a crash, she apologizes, not only over the P.A. system, but to each person as they get off the bus.
She is very professional. Driving at or below the speed limit, pulling around possible hazards in the road (i.e. bicyclists in the lane, etc.) and giving them a wide berth, giving right-of-way to the other drivers, checking mirrors before pulling out, and not pulling into lanes of traffic and making others wait while she tries to get across a crowded road. At 500 South and Orchard Blvd. where the turn is very tight, especially with people in the left turn lane to turn south, very rarely does she run over the curb there, where other drivers run over it consistently. In fact, many times when she has warned us that she was going to be running over it, she has missed it altogether.
As for running early, she generally gets to the last stop at the State Capitol on time. From there, it is very rare for anyone to get on the bus anywhere else. With I-15 rush hour traffic, you never know when you are going to be at a crawl or able to breeze on through. But for us as passengers, on a commuter bus trying to get home, we are happy when she is able to drive through without delays and get us home on time.
Tara is good to go out of her way to help people. Giving courtesy stops, making sure that she is near the curb so that the step up or down isn’t too great, using the bus’ kneeling system to help out the passengers, and greeting the passengers good naturedly. In bad weather, she is good to make sure the drop off spot is dry and the passengers leaving won’t get dirty getting off the bus.
We, as her passengers, would really like for Tara Hatch to remain our driver.
Sincerely,
The Passengers of Route 61.”
And 25 signatures to boot, some with their own comments as well.
RobS said on May 6, 2005 23:57:
Wow, if that doesn’t impress your bosses, then they have got some serious issues.
Just a thought, maybe the whole problem is that your just too nice to your passengers :-P
Jud (moderator) said on May 7, 2005 07:07:
yeah, maybe people started to demand drivers like you and they were like “uh uh, now we have a problem!”
ally77 said on May 7, 2005 07:35:
@ Littlespooky....
Awww that is just so nice of them to do that for you.... it shows they appreciate you and that they don’t wanna lose you... if your bosses cannot accept that then I would shove that letter and signatures somewhere very painful up your boss and sod the consequences! :)
purplemedusa said on May 7, 2005 07:41:
Spooks... that is truly beautiful!! Please keep us informed of the outcome but I trust that such references can’t go unnoticed! Wishing you much strength and perserverence! *big huggles*
MiracleMan said on May 7, 2005 14:57:
A surly bus driver? Never heard of that before. ;) Sounds to me like someone above you doesn’t like you and is looking for a reason to bounce you on your keester. Some people get off on that sort of power trip.
Well, I hope this resolves itself in a positive way, and I commend all your regulars for stepping up and letting your bosses know how much they value you and the fine job you do. It certainly refutes some of the bad driver claims. I hope they give it the weight it deserves while they “investigate”. It’s a shame that you’re having to go through some bullshit, Spooky. Best of luck.
LittleSpooky said on May 15, 2005 06:01:
****************UPDATE***************
In a letter dated 5 / 12 / 05:
I have been termintated.
What’s next? I need some time to gather my shit and figure that out.
MiracleMan said on May 15, 2005 16:10:
Jaw dropped on that one. I was really hoping thing would work out better for you.
I’d hope this will turn out to be the something that leads you into something that really serves you well. Best of luck and keep in touch.
Anarem said on May 15, 2005 16:49:
One door closes, another door opens. I know it doesn’t feel like it right now, but right now is a good time to evaluate what you really want from life, take up a new hobby... it’ll all turn out well in the end, you’ll see.
LittleSpooky said on May 15, 2005 17:59:
Thanks guys.
However, after all was said and done, and the long talk I had with my mom yesterday (about 12 hours worth of talking off and on), I don’t want to go back to the company. This is the end of a 5 year “fight” of sorts.
When I got to pick my schedule (became a regular driver) and stuff, I got a new supervisor. The newbs would get counter supervisors (the ones who worked behind the counter for their entire shift) and regulars would get “road” supervisors (guys who were out in the system). Any time a complaint came in, rather than investigating it, the supe that I had would make it valid. Example: I had someone call in and complain that I passed him by. Technically, I did. I wasn’t going to pick him up in the middle of an intersection.
What he neglected to point out was that I waited on the other side of the intersection for him to get over there and I could SAFELY pick him up. I told my supervisor just that.... BAM valid complaint anyway. Well, after about a year of that @#%$, and getting the Union involved, I’d been placed on leave for 3 months while they investigated it and did all sorts of things.
I won my case... but there’s been a target on my back ever since. The Division Manager that was in charge back then, is in charge AGAIN (my old DM was transferred to Service Development / Planning), and I didn’t expect her to be fair and unbiased this time either.
In fact... I had a feeling that I was going to be out of a job back at the end of the year last year.
I’m callin the Unemployment office first thing tomorrow, then callin the company to get my final check processed. Then, I have to call about my 457 and see what my options are.
So... that’s what’s up.. .and I think I’m going back to bed. I’m tired still, and rather than holin up yesterday and hiding out after I found out, I’d spent most of the day out yesterday and rightly wore m’self out.
Kazza said on May 17, 2005 08:01:
I hope you find another job quickly and that it’s something you will truly enjoy.
Best of luck to you!
RobS said on May 17, 2005 13:25:
That’s really terrible to hear that.
I really hope that something really good comes of this for you. All the best in your future endeavours :-)
LittleSpooky said on May 18, 2005 04:20:
Well, today I turned in my employee ID and other issued equipment and had an “exit” interview. Tomorrow, I go see if I can qualify for unemployment. Hope to hell I don’t get denied... need the $$ for rent or I am out on my ass...
Jud (moderator) said on May 18, 2005 06:05:
huh? you don’t get the unemployment inmediately/automatically when they fire you?!? @_@ you have to qualify for it? @_@
LittleSpooky said on May 18, 2005 06:42:
Jude: My company can deny payment into it... I’m hoping not.
Kazza said on May 18, 2005 11:57:
I don’t know about the US system but in Australia, if you get fired you can usually get unemployment straight away, whereas if you leave a job of your own volition I believe you have to wait several weeks. Surely it would be fairly similar there. Here’s hoping.
harriej said on May 18, 2005 18:02:
LS: Good luck in finding a new job where the bosses can appreciate what you are doing.
Jud (moderator) said on May 19, 2005 06:48:
what a weird system. Who pays for the unemployment? The government? an insurance? Why should a company be able to deny a fired-employed to get unemployment? :S
In Spain you get unemployment if you are fired almost straight away (you have to bring some papers, apply for it etc.. if you quit yourself then bad luck. In Austria you get it anyway as soon as you are unemployed.
Of course, while you work, you pay taxes and another amount for health insurance/pension and unemployment to the state, therefore the state pays your medical needs, unemployment and later pension when you retire...
LittleSpooky said on May 20, 2005 03:23:
Applied for unemployment... now let’s see what happens next.
It’s kinda hard to explain the set up here... cuz even I don’t understand it.
What I do understand is people have filed for unemployment, gotten jobs, and still kept the unemployment funds coming in....
on_a_mission said on May 20, 2005 12:11:
unlucky, I hope you get a new job. Sounds like you have been screwed.
Take it easy, on_a_mission
kachina008 said on May 20, 2005 15:28:
Spooks I can’t believe you were terminated after that nice letter from your passengers. I am so sorry :(
hope you are doing alright....sending lots of positive thoughts your way.
LittleSpooky said on May 20, 2005 22:23:
I spoke to a couple of former passengers today, one of the guys on the route that put the petition together (I don’t know if Dave signed it or not, that’s cool) and the brother-in-law of my former Division Manager (the one transferred into another section) and I feel real good after talking to them.
I’m missed.
Colour me surprised, cuz most folks usually cross the street to get away from me......
LittleSpooky said on May 23, 2005 22:40:
New Update:
Just replied to an email sent to me from Farmers Insurance and Financial Services. They’d seen my resume on either Monster.com or Hotjobs.com and sent it to me.
Fingers crossed?
LittleSpooky said on July 6, 2005 07:45:
Well, to drag this up to the top again, cuz it’s something of an update:
I couldn’t qualify for unemployment because I was told that basically I could “control” the circumstances in which I was terminated to prevent it (BULLSHIT) and I’ve had some other issues turn up. I had my car impounded and what not, however, I have that back. I also have an application out in my truck for a place that has a help wanted sign. I’d be working on tires and stuff (changing them, putting new tires on rims, doing recaps / regrooves). IF I get this job.. I’d be the 2nd white person there, and the only woman (that I’ve seen). Most everyone there is hispanic. That’s cool... I took Spanish in college. I know enough to get my ass kicked (*lol*) or arrested, but I can catch on.
Kazza said on July 9, 2005 02:50:
Good stuff! I hope you get the job, and that it’s lots of fun. Fingers still crossed!
ally77 said on May 3, 2005 18:09:
Employers can be such arses at times.... other than that I have not a lot to say, but Good Luck and give them hell!!!!