Stories from the road #00

I'm on the greyhound bus. It's packed as normal. But at first it wasn't. Then we got to Mobile, Alabama, and things diversified. Bus driver is militant. He have zero tolerance for everything and we just yet pulling out the station for this road ahead. I guess he already anticipating disorderly behavior from the clientele who ride. I been riding greyhound since I was kid traveling with my family. Not because I want to either, but at this point i don't mind. It's kind of a choice. Once, I traveled by Chinese bus from nyc to Alabama. That was fucking nuts. Including the bus driver who maybe spoke little english being cussed out by a black woman with a baby as she was being let out for her stop in the middle of the night and on the side of a road somewhere in the South. Whoever put our luggage under the bus was too rough with her baby stroller and somehow when she arrived to her destination a wheel was missing, had broken off. Of course there was no customer service for her to call and make a complaint. This was the Chinese bus and tickets were dirt cheap. Cheap enough to keep you compliant and hoping for enough money to next time be on that greyhound where at least they have customer service. But that's funny too because greyhound customer service ain't worth shit. The Chinese bus driver comforted  himself from being cussed out by her by calling her "bitch" repeatedly as she made her way out of the bus and into night's darkness on the side of the road- the bus stop. My driver now is announcing his famous list of rules. Talking to us about enforcement and such. Stuff you would never hear on the plane. Nobody enforcing any rules there, just safety, peanuts, and drinks. But here we have the rule enforcer come to put us in check before we even out of order. Then again we already out of order because we traveling by bus for the cheapest route and a long ways from home. We pay in cash. And we get to choose our seats and see up close how our luggage is being handled. We also get to bring our own food and stare out on the open road as if we ourselves were driving it. We get to smoke at stops with strangers and listen in on random stories told at intervals along the way. The greyhound driver is yelling at these two Latina women with they babies. Rude. Babies to the back! As he grabs one of their bags, he uses his big body to rush them in the direction he wants them to go. Now we are moving fast down the road. Rushing by a man stopped on the highway tending his motorcycle as rain pours and pours and the skies go greyer. Rushing by the endless pine trees lining the road. The bus driver who demanded the women with babies to the back is now driving while yelling that they need to quiet the baby. "You must control your child! That's your job." as baby giggles happily. This is fucking insane. And the baby ain't even that loud. What the fuck you want her to put a muzzle over it? Damn. Black is way too serious. We switch drivers in Atlanta and Philly is a long way from there. I'm in my studies right now and quite sure there will be more stories to tell.