And now, the rest of the story

No mid-day run for me today.

Well, I wasn’t asked and I didn’t volunteer either, so who knows.

One thing I really like about this job is how supportive my co-workers are.  One of them gave me a good hug yesterday, and gee, I needed that.

I did go to work this morning and got my 25 bus back – heck, I can’t tell where it got hit yesterday.  It was pretty messy inside though – oh those kids!  Looks like they shredded homework and threw it around the bus, and someone left a whole bunch of unpopped pocorn scattered around.  I sort of swept it out before this morning’s runs, but it wasn’t until I was finished that I had time to really field-day the damn thing.

I have about a 15 minute layover after the Elementary kids, so I parked and walked back to the school and talked to the Principal.  First thing I said was thank you for watching over the kids while I dealt with the other driver – that guy has my vote for Transportation friendliest Principal of the year.  The second thing I told him was what that one girl told me about that boy and his want to hump her friend.

6th graders.

(on the other hand, this is a serious thing to me.  It may be bs, but if it’s true, well, not on my bus, not in my town, not when I’m around)

It turns out that that girl is well known for telling tall tales; apparently, she also told her parents and several other adults that after the accident, I told them to "stay seated and shut the fuck up".

Plausible, but then again, I do not remember saying any such thing, so when I got back to the barn today, I talked to the woman who handles our bus videos and asked to see the video from yesterday on my bus.  It’s a new digital camera and hard drive system.  It’s not so much to spy on me or the kids but to protect the driver and the district.  It’s standard procedure, apparently, to pull the videos from the bus in situations like this, so I will go back a little early this afternoon to see what happened on my bus.

I’m 80% sure I didn’t say anything like that…or at least, didn’t say anything I’d be ashamed of.  It’s that 20% probability that worries me – hell, I was a sailor, and there are times when that language comes so naturally to me that I may not realise what I’m saying, so yeah, maybe maybe, but, I don’t think so.

When I wrote the last entry, I was thinking of bagging this route next year.  It’s not the least stressful route out there (can you say "understatement").  I talked to some parents this morning as I picked up their kids, and they all said good things to me and about me.  I was impressed very much, and am wondering if I shouldn’t keep this route again next year and just get a mid-day to make the hours up.  Next year, I will have even more senority, and a mid-day is not out of sight.  We’ll see.

I suppose it hinges on whether or not I swore on the bus.

(again.  Ooops.  Did I mention that the Director, whom I had never spoken to officially before and I had a conversation about proper language on the bus?  I expected worse, but he was pretty good about it; and to tell the truth, I’ve given myself a harder time about it than anyone)

If I did, well, this may not be the best job for me.

The Principal told me he’d look into that girls’s claims, but I myself will separate the kids to make sure that nothing happens on my bus – once they get off, well, someone else is responsible for ’em.

Still, TGIF.

*****