I took two buses yesterday and was disappointed that there were only 5 arguements. Actually, only 3 — the other two were just skirmishes.
At one stop, a middled-aged man got on the bus, confronted a female passenger with right arm outstretched and palm up and said, “Gimme my phone now or I call the police.”
She muttered something and he raised his voice and repeated his demand. Then I saw a large iPhone being handed to him from the woman’s purse. He took the phone and got off the bus. Interesting.
Another incident involved a tall, athletic young man rushing on the bus, the driver, a short little female, said something about paying the fare. He said, “You were 40 minutes late and my phone is dead.” They yelled at each for a minute or so. Then the driver closed down the motor, and jumped off the bus onto the side walk and began making a call. The young man watched her and said, “No, no, here it is. See. I’m paying now. See?” Geez, I wish I had her kind of courage and power. I would have let the guy on free because he was so big.
The other thing that happened was when a guy sitting in one of the side seats, said to a black woman who was wearing a scarf around her head tied at the top, “Aunt Jemima.”
She stared him down and said, ” You betta watch your mouth,” showiing no fear or intimidation. She was at least in here 80’s and wasn’t nervous at all. That entertained the passengers for a few minutes but I had to get off at my stop so I don’t know wha the outcome was.
I notice that bus drivers never interfere with nasty passengers, whether they are yelling or not. And I’ve witnessed a few very very heated arguements. They just keep driving. And only a few demand fares. Most of the time if you just walk on, the driver ignores the whole thing, except for this one, young fiesty lady who doesn’t let anyone ride free!!