Christmas

December is a slow month in the bus business. Fall sports have ended and winter sports really haven't begun yet. Schools are in the "I'll take care of it after the holidays" mode and nothing really goes on. The problem with being slow is that most of my employees live week to week. So, with business being slow, there isn't a lot of overtime pay. This is the time of year when drivers need it most. We tell them during the autumn months when there working 50, 60 and even 70 hours per week to save their money! I guess that is easier said than done. What becomes very depressing to me is that drivers come to us for loans or asking for more work and I really can't help them. It has become a very depressing time of year for me. Instead of looking forward to the holidays, I start to dread them. I start to feel guilty about all the people I know that have trouble paying bills or that can't give their families the Christmas that they want to give. Not only do I feel guilty, I feel responsible. It is this huge weight on my back. Christmas is supposed to be an enjoyable time, but when you own a business, it becomes a real downer. People never have enough and in this economy, it is worse than ever. If you pray, please pray that the economy gets better soon.

Guns

Today one of my buses got shot at in the inner city. Fortunately no one was hurt however the driver and the kids were very upset. The kids yelled "he's got a gun" and within a split second the window on the service door (entrance door) was shattered. Thankfully, no one was hurt - this time. What do we have to do to get guns off the street? Hopefully this is an Obama agenda item. Gun control isn't the answer. Then it would be the criminals that have the guns and the honest people that don't. How do we get guns out of the hands of criminals?

Now I have to go deal with a driver that wants to quit because she doesn't want to drive that run any longer. Has the time come after 20 years in the business that we have to pay "battle pay" to inner city drivers? I certainly hope not because that isn't factored into our daily rate! And if we do charge it back to the school, who has to pay for it - yes, the taxpayer. How unfortunate.

Another month down...........

To date we have completed two months of the 08-09 school year - only 8 more to go but whose counting!!! October always ends with a bang because kids are off the wall due to the stupid Halloween holiday. Halloween has never been a favorite of mine, even as a kid. We have to spend the last week in October reminding drivers that they can't dress in anything scary or anything that would interfere with their vision. In other words, no ghosts, goblins or witches and no masks. I tell all the drivers that before they plan their costume, make sure a 3 year old wouldn't get scared. I tell them to find something fun. Generally we don't have a problem. Then there's the candy issue. No candy allowed on buses. Do you know how many kids these days have allergies? Well I can tell you its tons! So, not only do I have remind drivers that they can't give out candy but they also have to make sure no one is eating candy on the bus. This is a difficult task.

If it were up to me, Halloween would not be a holiday. I think its dumb and every year I lose my patience a little more..................

Work or Starve?

Human nature tells us that if we don't work to earn money then we can't eat or pay our basic bills like housing, heat, phone, etc. However, some people don't seem to get the connection. I realize that keeping ourselves healthy is an important thing but what is more important - our physical health or eating and paying our bills? This is a debate question - I know there is no real anwser. Here is something to ponder............

An employee has a knee injury. This is not an injury recieved on the job but rather something he did on his own time. He calls into work saying that his knee is hurting and too swollen to drive. He goes to the doctor and is told to stay off his knee for four to six weeks and that means no work. After the four to six week period, they will decide whether or not surgery is required and that would mean another eight weeks with no income. After ten days of being off the leg, the driver says he's feeling better. The swelling has come down however he doesn't want to go against his doctor's orders so he decides to remain at home until the surgery is completed.

This particular employee has no money. He is constantly coming to us asking for a "pay advance" to pay rent, electric bill, etc.

What would you do? Would you follow the doctor's orders or would you tell the doctor that unless he is going to pay your bills then you are returning to work? Your answer is a basic judge of your work ethic. Let me know what you think...............

A chill in the air........

There is definitely a chill in the air in New England. It is a gentle reminder that winter is right on our heels. Before you know it we'll be having conversations with administrators at 4:30 a.m. That is when the decision making starts. It always goes the exact same way. Every administrator calls and says "what are the other schools doing?" They are so funny. No one wants to be the first to say "close".

October is a challenging month but not as bad as September. The weekends in autumn are very busy. We have so many football games, festivals, etc. going on that our drivers are busy all weekend, which in turn means that we have to be "on call". Inevitably, each and every time we have company or go out to dinner, the phone rings with some situation that needs to be handled. Owning a business of this kind doesn't allow you to work from 9 to 5 and leave your work at work. It is always with you no matter where you are. It follows you everywhere, even on vacation. There is never really any "time off." I suggest that before you go into business for yourself, you think long and hard about how valuable your time is.

I survived September.....................

I can't believe the month of September is over and I actually survived. I can't tell you the number of times that I actually quit my job (at least in my head). I spend countless hours on the phone with complaining parents, confused drivers and egotistical administrators. Meeting upon meeting with different school systems and numerous changes each day in individualized transportation. To say September is exhausting is an understatement. I can't sleep because the thoughts of the day just circle in my head. All month long I kept praying for October 1st and it is finally here. Now I can breathe!!!

Here is a story of a typical school bus day. Right in the middle of the month, when things are as crazy as could be, one of my bus drivers calls to tell me he was handed a note at the school in the afternoon. This note states that no child is to be left off the bus unless a parent is there to meet them. This is for grades K-6. Well in my mind I thought something terrible must be happening in town. I'm thinking there is some crazy person going around snatching kids as they are walking home! Well that wasn't the case. Some egotistical administrator decided he was going to "get control" of the buses and decided to sent this notice out. The only problem was that he failed to notify the parents!!! Therefore, we had busloads of kids being returned to school and a town full of irate parents.

The kicker in the whole story is this - the administrator sends a letter home to parents the next day saying that the bus drivers took the letter "too literally"!!! As always, its the bus drivers fault. All because we followed directions!!

Let's hope October is a calmer month. If September lasted more than 30 days each year, I don't think my heart could take it!!

Summer is the shortest time of the year

Well here we are, back to the old grind. Summer has flown by as it has done for the past 20 summers (that is how long I have been in this crazy business). It was a good summer, did a little traveling but I'm just not ready to be back at my desk.

Today we had our employee "welcome back" meeting. It went rather well, only a few complaints. However when the meeting was over, I returned to my desk to several voice mails all from parents looking for bus information.............here we go again. All of our bus routes are posted on websites. Is it too much to ask for parents to look on a website for their bus stop? Apparently the answer is yes. Much easier to dial the phone and ask some shmuck like me to get it for them, which I always do. Each year I start by saying that I am not going to let them get away with it this year. I am just going to tell them to look it up themselves but as soon as I get on the phone I just can't force myself to be that nasty. So instead, I lay down like a doormat and let them walk all over me.

Next week we begin school here in CT. Then the complaints will begin. I will have two solid weeks of........ my child has to walk too far, the stop should be at my driveway, I can't see them from my living room, too many cars on my street, no sidewalks (we have none anywhere in my town), construction vehicles going by, my child can't wait alone, etc., etc., etc.

If you are reading this and you are a parent, please check with me before you call your bus company to complain. You may find it enlightening to know that we never expect any child to walk to a bus stop alone. We expect you, the parent, to walk with them. And yes, you may have younger children in the house, but having kids was your choice, not mine so please don't ask me to rearrange my schedule because you have a few extra kids. Get the point!!

OK, I'll stop rambling now............ I'll catch up again in the next few weeks when I come up for air!

TGI Summer

Finally, our last public school ended last Friday! 97 degrees and 80% humidity and these poor kids were in school until June 27th!! It's been a very long school year and now summer has begun. We still have lots of buses heading in many directions like camps, special needs schools, summer school, etc. however our attitude is different at this time of year. We still take our job seriously and know that we are carrying the worlds most precious cargo, however the stress level is a bit lower.

I will now spend my days thinking ahead to September. I think we are one of the only businesses in the world that has to totally reinvent itself every year. Push all the old papers off my desk and begin with new ones........... remove all the graduating students from each school and transfer them out or onto the next school. Bus routes change totally depending on where the population is. Basically I have 6 weeks to redo everything. Schools require the bus information at least two weeks prior to opening so that parents can be notified. That doesn't leave me much time.

So here I sit, inputting kindergarten students into my system, deleting seniors and moving up elementary kids to middle school, middle school to high school, etc. Soon September will be here and when the buses start running again it will take us weeks to work out the bugs, deal with parents complaints (the biggest complaint is "why are you not stopping at my driveway"), and once again, dealing with driver issues. Just when I think it has all calmed down and I just get my brain wrapped around all we have done and changed, it will be June again!!!! Can't wait already!

One down..........

Today I had to fire a driver, which is never fun. I gave this driver more chances than I care to admit, however she just didn't get it. She was her own worse enemy. So today, tomorrow and for the next few days, I am going to have to spend my entire day reassuring the other drivers that I am not on a witch hunt. There are so many things the other drivers just don't see so when we have to fire someone, they don't see that it is for a valid reason. Because this is a personnel issue, I can't share any of the details with them, so I have to convince them that I had a valid reason without giving them any information. This is a difficult task and one that I really am not looking forward to. Talk about a waste of time!! I have work to do.

I am totally convinced that if we had the money to put a psychologist on retainer that we could keep him busy all day. There would be a revolving door in his office. So many drivers with so many issues and I'm not trained to solve these kinds of problems.

Stress, stress and more stress. I am so looking forward to the end of school. For us it is about the 3rd week in June. However, starting now, I have to begin the process of pushing one school year off of my desk and start the next. I am already working on bus routes, etc. for the 08-09 school year. While everyone is enjoying their summer vacation, I will be getting ready for September. We are the only business that I know of that has to totally reinvent themselves every 10 months. Bus runs totally change because the school population totally changes. What a pain in the neck. Every time I think about it I remember to thank my husband for picking this business. It was his choice, not mine. We should have chosen to haul dirt instead of kids!!!!!

Fuel.............

Here is something I don't understand. Why is it that Americans are not screaming about the cost of fuel? I realize that this effects my business greatly, however this effects each and every one of us! Every single thing that we purchase in our lives is going to increase as a result of higher fuel costs. Why are Americans just laying down and allowing this to happen? I just don't understand. Why did the government feel the need to bail out Bear Sterns and help only a select few, but they are ignoring the masses by allowing this to continue. People are making huge adjustments in their lives actually having to think about where they drive. Parents are having to eliminate after school activities for their kids, summer camp enrollment is down, food is going through the roof, and restaurants are empty. You are going to see so many business go out of business because of the cost of fuel. Forget the luxury business, they are done for! Restaurants, florists, spas, gift stores, etc are all going to be hurting.

Here is my plea - help me find some way to get the attention of the government. What can we do? Any ideas?

Short Lived Peace

I just spent 4 wonderful days in Orlando with my daughter Kim and my three grandsons. We really had a great time even though it was quite exhausting. It was wonderful but very short lived peace............

The moment our plane hit the tarmac, I recieved an email from the Superintendent of Schools stating that he saw one of my employees, two days in a row, using her cell phone while driving students. In Connecticut it is illegal to use a cell phone while driving and also illegal for any school bus driver to even a hands free devise. This law is not new. This bus driver knows better. My blood pressure instantly went up. I could feel it. All the peace I had while away instantly went out the window.

Needless to say, I wasn't overjoyed to return to work this morning. I had to deal with the cell phone issue, too many voice mails to count, and then got a message from one of the principals telling me that one of my employees was selling candy bars to the kids on the bus!! Please, tell me it isn't so!!!! Do you know how difficult it is to try and explain that your employees just don't have any common sense? Both these issues should have never happened if the drivers just used their heads. Is that too much to ask?? So incredibly frustrating.

We'll see what tomorrow brings.................

The Dentist

Today one of our bus drivers took my mom to the dentist. My mom is 83 years old and can't drive herself. Actually there isn't much she can do by herself so one of our bus drivers doubles as a home health aide for her. Well today mom had a dentist appointment at 11:00 a.m. The driver had a minimum day at her school, a 1:30 p.m. dismissal. Now you wouldn't think this would be a problem, however it was. At 1:10 p.m. the driver calls the office to say that my mother is still sitting in the dentist's chair. The first thing that I thought was what the heck could they possibly be doing to an 83 year old mouth that could take over 2 hours!!! As of this moment, I still don't have that answer. The frustration with this entire story is this: If you were the driver wouldn't you have thought to call the office just a wee bit earlier than 1:10 p.m.? The second thing is this - if I have to sit in the dentist's chair for over two hours at the age of 83, please just take me out to pasture and shoot me!!

Each day when a bus driver has a run to do they must perform what is called a pre-trip inspection on the bus. This is a "run-through" of the bus, checking 217 items on the bus each time it leaves the yard and completing a DVIR (Daily Vehicle Inspection Report). This is what was written on a DVIR this morning.........
"occasionaly my bus makes a loud noise like an unevenly loaded washing machine during the spin cycle, but when I let my foot off the accelerator it stops." We have all male mechanics and they don't know what an unevenly loaded washing machine sounds like!!!!

Tidbits

Thank you so much to everyone who has posted comments on this blog. I truly hope you will enjoy reading my stories.

I don't have much to share today but I do have some information I would like to give to you, especailly to those of you that are parents and may be using school bus transportation currently or may use it in the future.

Connecticut has been rainy for the past two days. Whenever we have an extended period of rain, parents always break out the rain slickers. The most common color for these slickers is yellow. From a bus driver's point of view, yellow is extremely dangerous. When children are dressed in yellow slickers, they blend in with the side of the bus which makes it difficult for oncoming traffic to distinguish between the child and the bus. In addition, when bus drivers look in the mirrors on the side of the bus, children in yellow slickers blend in with the sea of yellow they see. If a child is dressed in something other than yellow, they will stand out against the bus.

That is my tidbit for the day. If you need to purchase a rain slicker for your child, please choose another color. It may be the "safest" purchase you ever make!

Have a great day!

Rainy Days and Mondays

Yesterday was Monday which is always the most interesting day of the week here at our wonderful place of employment. Monday morning when we arrive at the office, there are always a few messages on the answering machine that resemble this...........

"Can't come in today. My husband got arrested over the weekend, I have to bail him out and I have to find the money."

"Can't come in today. One of my kids got arrested over the weekend, I have to bail him out and I have to find the money."

"My car got repossessed over the weekend and I need to find the money to get it back."

I could waste my entire blog space with a lengthy list of excuses that seem to "develop" over the weekend. The amazing part is that almost every excuse involves money, or lack there of. How do you make money? Yes, by coming to work. However that seems to be a difficult concept for some of our employees. So, they take another day off and then come payday, I am going to have to listen to the saga of how they can't afford to pay their bills because they don't get enough hours each week!!

As I said, Mondays are always interesting. We got a call from one of our drivers who called to say that she wouldn't be coming to work in the afternoon. She had to go to the doctor because she couldn't walk. This was after she spent 10 minutes telling me about her very active weekend but then decided she couldn't walk. I asked, foolishly, is it your legs, hips, feet that hurt? "No", was the answer, "I think I'm consitpated and it is effecting my walking, so I really can't drive." Now what should I have said to that? My initial reaction was "how does constipation effect your driving?" I guess maybe that was heartless but I still don't get it. Maybe we should put an Exlax dispenser in the vestibule instead of the soda machine!

Thanks to everyone that wrote a comment welcoming me to bloggerland. I'm very excited! As I said in my first post, this is going to be theraputic for me!!

A Bit of History

I told my business partner about my idea to blog. He thinks I'm nuts and that blogging is for a younger generation. However, after he got used to the idea, he suggested I give you some background. So, here it goes.............. My husband and I started this business almost 20 years ago. We began with one bus contract. It was supposed to supplement our income. Since then we've grown a bit, to about 75 buses and 70 or so employees. With all these employees and buses comes many stories that I will be sharing on this blog. I will change the names to protect the innocent and the guilty!! I hope you enjoy reading the trials and tribulations of an everyday business owner.

Please be patient with me while I design the blog. Right now it is pretty boring but I am going to customize my "look". Stay tuned...........

Welcome

I have never done anything like this before. Blogging is something that people over 45 usually don't do in their spare time. However, I am going to use this as a form of therapy. My job can get pretty stressful at times. Most days I have to hold in my feelings, smile and remain calm. I will use this blog to vent. My though is that this is better for me than valium, which is where I am heading if I don't find somewhere to let loose!!!