In all the writing that I have done, I haven't talked about my job. I'm a bus driver. For 18 years, I have started and ended the day with my "bussies", as I lovingly refer to my riders. We can go anywhere in our city, and I always find a friend, (someone who rode my bus).
I remember when it all started; I had been in the transportation industry for about 25 years. For a period of time I was self-employed, but then the property that our business was located on was sold. We had a month to move, nowhere to go, and no job. I told Pat "God will make a way!"
Time was slipping away; we were down to a week, and no place to go. Then the phone rang one morning. It was a friend who told us someone had renters that moved out unexpectedly, so we had a place to live. After we moved, the phone rang again, and I was offered a job working for the world's largest retailer. Prior to that time I told Pat, "I think I'll drive school bus!" Later she confessed, "I never thought you would do that." She has found out that the man she married has done many things she didn't believe he could do.
I had started to drive school bus as a substitute. One day at work I got a call from the school, and they had a route open unexpectedly. I went to my store manager and explained the situation. She said, since it's a service to the community, she would arrange my schedule so that I could drive bus. And for thirteen years, they allowed me to drive bus and work for them. Unlike some others, I was always grateful for the wonderful company that Wal-Mart was to me, and my family.
The first route that I drove had it's problems, and I was the problem solver! The previous driver didn't have control over the passengers. The new driver (me) was a black- and- white kind of guy. The experience I had, dealing with truck drivers for 25 years, was put to good use when I became a bus driver. Truck drivers are the modern-day equivalent of cowboys. They like their independence, and some can get pretty hard to deal with, but it was excellent training for these little rustlers.
The first day, I (Matt Dillon), and Chester,( a dad who rode along to maintain order) met at the bus barn. Chester was the deputy, but I was the sheriff. When the riders got rowdy, I pulled the bus to the side of the road, and explained how the ride was going to go. It didn't have an immediate effect,
but after enough interrupted rides, sitting on the side of the road, waiting to go home, they started to understand.
At the end of the year, Pat rode along on the last day to help me when I took the kids to the Dairy Queen. She sat by a 1st grade boy named Mark, who let her read the book he wrote at school about his big brother. It was titled, "The Bad Boy." We really had to chuckle, reading about this "Bad" brother, but it also served to made me realize how a young child is affected by the actions of someone older.
As their bus driver, I was the first adult they would see outside of their home each day, and quite possibly the last each day. I had no idea what kind of home situation they came from in the morning, and went home to at night. Was there some way I could make a difference in their lives?
Read more tomorrow...
I remember when it all started; I had been in the transportation industry for about 25 years. For a period of time I was self-employed, but then the property that our business was located on was sold. We had a month to move, nowhere to go, and no job. I told Pat "God will make a way!"
Time was slipping away; we were down to a week, and no place to go. Then the phone rang one morning. It was a friend who told us someone had renters that moved out unexpectedly, so we had a place to live. After we moved, the phone rang again, and I was offered a job working for the world's largest retailer. Prior to that time I told Pat, "I think I'll drive school bus!" Later she confessed, "I never thought you would do that." She has found out that the man she married has done many things she didn't believe he could do.
I had started to drive school bus as a substitute. One day at work I got a call from the school, and they had a route open unexpectedly. I went to my store manager and explained the situation. She said, since it's a service to the community, she would arrange my schedule so that I could drive bus. And for thirteen years, they allowed me to drive bus and work for them. Unlike some others, I was always grateful for the wonderful company that Wal-Mart was to me, and my family.
The first route that I drove had it's problems, and I was the problem solver! The previous driver didn't have control over the passengers. The new driver (me) was a black- and- white kind of guy. The experience I had, dealing with truck drivers for 25 years, was put to good use when I became a bus driver. Truck drivers are the modern-day equivalent of cowboys. They like their independence, and some can get pretty hard to deal with, but it was excellent training for these little rustlers.
The first day, I (Matt Dillon), and Chester,( a dad who rode along to maintain order) met at the bus barn. Chester was the deputy, but I was the sheriff. When the riders got rowdy, I pulled the bus to the side of the road, and explained how the ride was going to go. It didn't have an immediate effect,
but after enough interrupted rides, sitting on the side of the road, waiting to go home, they started to understand.
At the end of the year, Pat rode along on the last day to help me when I took the kids to the Dairy Queen. She sat by a 1st grade boy named Mark, who let her read the book he wrote at school about his big brother. It was titled, "The Bad Boy." We really had to chuckle, reading about this "Bad" brother, but it also served to made me realize how a young child is affected by the actions of someone older.
As their bus driver, I was the first adult they would see outside of their home each day, and quite possibly the last each day. I had no idea what kind of home situation they came from in the morning, and went home to at night. Was there some way I could make a difference in their lives?
Read more tomorrow...
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