Bus rage on the #22.

While riding the bus today through Japan-town, an older man carrying an open cardboard box half full of books got on, dropping his box to the floor.  He stood just at my seat by the back door.  Before the bus was about to pull away from the curb, an elderly man with a cane attempted to board and got stuck in the doors.  The man with the box helped him aboard, then berated the driver for having closed the doors on the elderly man.  Everything was yelled in indignation. 'A man was trying to board, you know!!  And he has a cane, too!!  How dare you close the doors on him!!'  The elderly man pitched in, 'Yeah, how could close the doors on me?!'

The bus driver said that she hadn't closed the doors, but that just made both men angrier.  The man with the cane took a seat, all the while grousing about having been caught in the bus doors.  The man with the box just kept up shouting at the driver.  In all this time, we hadn't pulled away from the curb and I was, at this point, contemplating disembarking.    Finally, the bus driver said, 'That's it. Get off of my bus.  You can't be talking to me this way.  Get off the bus!'  Box man wasn't having any of it.  He bellowed, 'I will not get off the bus!' then picked up his carton, stormed past me, nicking me in the arm with the pointy bit of his cardboard box, and sat at the back of the bus.  The bus driver got on the horn to someone, at dispatch maybe, and said, 'He won't get off my bus.'  We were at a stand-still.  I figured it was time to walk.

As I was getting off the bus I heard another man at the back yell, 'You gonna drive this bus, bitch?!'  I was flabbergasted.  There was no support for the driver at all.  Just some angry, white men being awful.  While waiting for the light at the next block, I saw the 22 go by with everyone still on it.  I felt bad for the driver, that's for sure.