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!