No-Busse Oblige (Rant alert)
Sep. 26th, 2007 08:45 am Yesterday morning I Did Everything I'm Supposed To Do to leave for work on time.
The bus, on the other hand, did not deign to show up at all.
After concluding that catching my (hourly 8P) train to work was not possible, I returned home and made breakfast. I say "made" because by the time it was done I had to leave again to catch another bus. (Packed breakfast -- without zipper bags, I would starve 8) Notified job that I'd be late but was On My Way.
Second bus did not deign to show up. Trotted six blocks away to different bus route (which apparently had not received the "Today Is (crude verb) -![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
minstrlmummr -- Day " memo).
Cut to afternoon.
Patient (in wheelchair) had to run an errand which required a trip on public bus. In the normal course of events, driver, passenger and I work together to make this admittedly trip-delaying maneuver as drama-free as possible, with timesaving results.
Of course, that's not what happened this time. First the Courteous and Helpful Driver (henceforth to be referred to as "CaHD") left the bus angled with the rear door too far from the sidewalk for the lift to flatten properly to admit the chair. Instead of saying, "This won't work, let me pull forward," as I've heard from others, this dude insists that we all we have to do is push hard to get the chair over the 30-degree-angled metal flap he's created. A couple of passengers offered to help, and got the chair on the lift after several reconfigurations. Now instead of properly raising to 90 degrees for lifting, the aforementioned flap tries to reverse itself to 180 degrees where it lives when it's part of the bottom step, and gets caught on part of the chair, and stops. The CaHD seemed unable to re-sequence the lift for lifting configuration.
I have no idea what was in this CaHD's heart, but I do know that until I spoke the magic words, "He's making this as hard as possible because he doesn't want to take a wheelchair," to another passenger, the CaHD Just Didn't Know What To DO to accomodate my patient.
So after he moved the bus closer and we got the chair on board, the CaHD walked back to his seat, tossing over his shoulder the words "You'll have to tie hir chair down." I have never been trained how to use the equipment on HIS bus. Furthermore, there is a plate right on the folded-up seat which states that the driver would tie down the chair if the passenger requests it. Which s/he did. Which the CaHD ignored. Fortunately, the clutches on the chair do what brakes do in this situation, so if I stood next to the chair and held the handle, it didn't slip too much.
Since the gods were not yet sufficiently amused by this kerfuffle, we got the same driver for our trip home. Which went faster. And quieter.
Fortunately, my trip home from work was mostly by train 8)
The bus, on the other hand, did not deign to show up at all.
After concluding that catching my (hourly 8P) train to work was not possible, I returned home and made breakfast. I say "made" because by the time it was done I had to leave again to catch another bus. (Packed breakfast -- without zipper bags, I would starve 8) Notified job that I'd be late but was On My Way.
Second bus did not deign to show up. Trotted six blocks away to different bus route (which apparently had not received the "Today Is (crude verb) -
minstrlmummr -- Day " memo).Cut to afternoon.
Patient (in wheelchair) had to run an errand which required a trip on public bus. In the normal course of events, driver, passenger and I work together to make this admittedly trip-delaying maneuver as drama-free as possible, with timesaving results.
Of course, that's not what happened this time. First the Courteous and Helpful Driver (henceforth to be referred to as "CaHD") left the bus angled with the rear door too far from the sidewalk for the lift to flatten properly to admit the chair. Instead of saying, "This won't work, let me pull forward," as I've heard from others, this dude insists that we all we have to do is push hard to get the chair over the 30-degree-angled metal flap he's created. A couple of passengers offered to help, and got the chair on the lift after several reconfigurations. Now instead of properly raising to 90 degrees for lifting, the aforementioned flap tries to reverse itself to 180 degrees where it lives when it's part of the bottom step, and gets caught on part of the chair, and stops. The CaHD seemed unable to re-sequence the lift for lifting configuration.
I have no idea what was in this CaHD's heart, but I do know that until I spoke the magic words, "He's making this as hard as possible because he doesn't want to take a wheelchair," to another passenger, the CaHD Just Didn't Know What To DO to accomodate my patient.
So after he moved the bus closer and we got the chair on board, the CaHD walked back to his seat, tossing over his shoulder the words "You'll have to tie hir chair down." I have never been trained how to use the equipment on HIS bus. Furthermore, there is a plate right on the folded-up seat which states that the driver would tie down the chair if the passenger requests it. Which s/he did. Which the CaHD ignored. Fortunately, the clutches on the chair do what brakes do in this situation, so if I stood next to the chair and held the handle, it didn't slip too much.
Since the gods were not yet sufficiently amused by this kerfuffle, we got the same driver for our trip home. Which went faster. And quieter.
Fortunately, my trip home from work was mostly by train 8)
