Saturday, October 22, 2011

Talk Radio


There are two radios on my bus, one is your basic AM/FM Cassette find ( yes we are in 2011) and the other is a CB radio. The district has paid for about 14 mile radius of air rights. Therefore, anyone and everyone in that radius that has a CB radio can possible hear whatever we are saying. So you have to watch what you say and make sure you don’t use any foul or profanity...not that us bus drivers would anyway.  :)
The CB radio is used for when we back out of our bus stalls and to communicate with base and other drivers.  When I was in training to be a school bus driver they taught us how to use this CB radio properly with the correct terminology list 104 -  received the information,108 - this bus in service and clear- the next person can talk now. I was scared to death when I was a rookie to use the radio. What if I choked and said something wrong and absolutely hilarious?  No worries there, because what I learned after my first week I was there that not everyone went by protocol. I learned that some people would use it like a phone and not a CB radio where hundreds of people were listening in. It is like when you had one to those old baby monitors that picked up your neighbors wireless phone conversations. You know the ones, were all you heard was  was talk, talk, talk about nothing really important from your neighbors.  I also realized really quick who were the people that must love the sound of there own voice. They are the ones that I swear have the wheel in one hand the radio in the other. These people are the ones that are just to helpful!! The ones that mother the other drivers to death! Like where to park the bus, there is a dog in the road, your kids are doing _____! They are constantly on the radio telling others how to do the job. It isn’t like we all didn’t go through the same training and have the same licenses plus we are considered professional drivers. So to those people that think I am writing about them ( which I probably am) stay off the radio, stop being so helpful and let others figure it out themselves!  Next we have to drivers that feel like they have to paint a picture for the other person on the radio by describing the whole scenario in great detail before getting to the point! again this is going on while the rest of the district is saying to themselves “ spit it out already!!”.  Most of us already know what you are going to say.  Then you have base.....we love base.  Some of the drivers find them every entertaining. You see some of them are not from the area or haven’t driven a school bus, and if they have I think that at times they have forgotten what it is really like out in what we call “in the field” or “on the road”. they will say to us over the radio, “ I have your card, so come see me when you get in. I have to tell you..blah blah blah.” and they go into great detail. Question...isn’t that why you pulled their card was so you could talk to them when they get into base and that rest of us don’t need to hear or have anything to do with us?  Base can be such a comedy show at times. Like when a new/sub driver is lost on a route due to the route sheet not being correct ( for whatever reason). So here is base who can’t see where the driver is and I mean direction they may be facing or what street they are on and where on that street are they located. Then they continue to tell them where they need to go or turn around at. When you have other drivers that are in that area and know the route which could be of better help. So we just sit back and listen to the whole thing shaking our heads because there is no way we could get a word in edge wise if we tried!  I know they are there to help and when we do need them they are there...well sometimes. There are times when a driver calls into base and there is no response. So the driver will say “hello...can anyone hear me?” or “is this thing working?” and other drivers will speak up and let that driver know yes their radio is working. Of course base was just on the phone or in the restroom when that happens..lol. Now let’s talk about those who think the radio is a nuisance. These are the people that get called on the radio and when they respond they sound like they are being bothered. You can hear it in their tone...”Whhhhaat?!” or have that “ are you kidding me, why you are bothering me for that?”...LOL! Then you have those drivers that I swear have a brain fart in the middle of talking! they start the sentence and forget half way through what they are saying or what route they are on or where they are. don’t get me wrong, many of us do it and I am not judging, just laughing when they do it! then there is when they run out of fuel....note to others...when this happens don’t call on the radio, use your cell. Don’t get me wrong, this will be get back to all of us and we will tease you! we also like to make comments to each other over the radio that nobody else know what we are talking about, like inside jokes. One of my favorite things that happens on a daily basis is that someone will leave their Hazard lights on flashing while they driving down the road. When this occurs someone else will be helpful and not to point out who it is they will just plainly say “FLASHERS” ...we all look down and check ours to see if it is us. Do you know how many times I just want to get back on the radio and say “ where and are they fully naked?”
Now I know I have talked about all the funny stuff but when one of our drivers gets into trouble we all are quiet and listening carefully on how we can help or hope that they are ok. like when there is a fight on the bus or an accident. because those things do happen and we are a bus family and  we care about our other drivers even when they annoy us at other times just like a really family. So we tease each other about things that have happened on a route over the radio all the time..of course it is with love :) 

Monday, October 10, 2011

Let's talk RAIN!!

Here is a little science riddle for you......What do you get when you put 60 wet children with soaked backpacks into a 40 foot yellow metal lunch box on wheels? 
Anybody? huh huh... can you guess? 
A rolling yellow sauna! hahahahaha!  
 The kids stand out in the rain for 5 minutes with their pretty color printed umbrellas. As I pull up to the bus stop they piles on. Well at least the ones that can get their umbrellas down. So picture this - a kid holding their umbrella like it is a jousting sword. Mind you it is 3-4 feet wide and my bus door is only 2 1/2 feet wide. So the kids push and push trying to get the umbrella through the door multiple times! After I am done laughing I tell them to turn it sideways and then they can get it through. They then hand it to me to put it down.. did I mention it was soaked? Yes, on rainy days I wear rain gear while I drive! Now that the student has the umbrella down they continue to shake it all the way down the isle to the seat they chose to sit down in. Now the floors are wet the seats are wet and the kids are wet...Where do you think all that moisture goes? I goes all over the windows...my windows. My buses front windshield is about 3 ft high and 7 ft across with a 6 inch fan for the defroster, which is trying to keep up with 60 kids wet bodies....while I am trying to see out of to drive! I have learned some tricks over the years. 1) don’t turn on the student heaters. this just makes the kids dry out faster and more moisture in the air. 2) crack all the window down one notch...and make sure the kids don’t put them up when they get on! 3) turn on all my fans in the front to re-direct the moisture out and away from My windows! 
Did I mention that bus drivers like to play in the puddles. Think about it...it is the time of year were the trees are shedding their leaves and clogging up all the drains on the streets. Which creates these great water back ups we like to call puddles. This is when the inner child comes out in us school bus drivers. Our eyes get all big and glassy when we see “the water puddle” that we just have to drive through and try to make the biggest  splash possible, to the point we think there are judges watching to give us that perfect score. So we drive as closes as possible to the deep part of the puddle to make the biggest splash....and we admire our work as we drive away....I just hope that isn’t you that is standing on the sidewalk..LOL! 

Tuesday, October 4, 2011

I lost my Knob!

The day was going as normal...I arrived for my afternoon route and did my pre-trip. I then followed the other 5 buses over to to high school in convoy style. I loaded my high school students and continued my convoy over to the middle school with the rest of the busses. As I pulled into my signed numbers parking stall, I pushed the “N” on the control panel on the right and pulled our the big yellow diamond shaped knob that say “ Parking Brake”. I then reached over to the left and yanked on the black knob that opens and closes the door for the students to enter and exit the bus. Well, today I realized that I have been really working out and it has been paying off because when I yanked....the Whole knob and metal shaft came with it! All I heard with all the air pressure blowing out the whole like it was the Old Faithful Geyser! I put my hands over it like I was going to get wet or something.. LOL! After I realized how silly it was I just let the air do its thing and called the shop to bring me another bus. At that point I informed all my students of what had happened and that we would be waiting 15 mins for another bus. This is when the kids started telling bus stories of past years...one student “ remember when Chris threw up in the back of the bus?’” ..another student “ Or when that one girl threw a slug at the bus!” I then shared some other stories like when another driver had my bus in the day and toilet papered the inside of my bus and the way I retaliated was by driving his bus and letting all my students empty all of their paper out of their notebooks all over the bus! It took us 4 big school size trash cans to empty and clean the bus afterwards..LOL!  
So we spent the rest of the time telling stories and listening to some of the students say how they needed to use the bathroom and wanted off the bus. ( which we are not allowed to do) So there was a ton of comedy going on with teenage boys! Of course it took longer that I had expected for the other bus to get there...and this is why.  When we need another bus from base one of our mechanics brings it to us so they can fix or just drive the other one back. Well I think that they aren't allowed out of their shop much because this one particular mechanic took the longest route possible to get to where I was. Did he not know that I had 50 high school students on my bus? Really? Seriously? ....I sometimes wonder what people are thinking. Next time I will send then GPS coordination's..LOL! well he finally got there and I had all the students get on the other bus and loaded. When I closed the doors one student called out , “ hey, you know you can drive 5 over the speed limit!” you have to just love them for helping :)
On a different note....bus drivers have a saying “ you can’t live off of a bus drivers salary”. with that said, many of us have other jobs that we do to help us get the bills paid. I am exception, I am a personal trainer and have my own business. So after my route when I lost my knob, I had a meeting with some new clients for my personal training business. As one family walked in I recognized that daughter, I asked her where she went to elementary school and she told me the one that I drive for. I then explained to her parents that I drive school bus also. Later when I was doing her paper work I asked her what grade she was in and she said “ I am a senior and you drove me from Kindergarden thru 5th grade.” WOW....she looked so young and that made me smile. It sometimes amazes me how fast the past 10 yrs. have gone.