I'm writing this blog post while I ride a bus from Boston to New York City. It's 12 am, pretty late for traveling, I know. But you see, I was suppose to be in New York City at 8 pm but the bus I was on broke down at a rest area about an hour outside of Boston and a new bus didn't come pick up the abandoned passengers for over 6 hours!
Yes, I know things could have been worse. The bus could have had an accident seriously hurting or killing me or the other passengers. Yes, I am grateful to be getting home in one piece. But yes, did I create a hell of a fuss when after 3 hours of waiting and no communication from our bus driver regarding the status of our situation. I lost it. I yelled. I complained. I pouted. I mean, 6 hours? The whole situation wad unprofessional, unnerving and unbelievable. How a large company can just disregard its customers and its employees ( I overheard the company dispatcher blow off the drivers calls numerous times) just disgusts me. I chose this bus company because they use cute double decker buses, clearly they are cute to try and mask how ugly the company is.
At about hour four I began to loose my mind. My boyfriend called and said "aw bummer, I really wanted to see you tonight" and I screamed "oh, okay what am I suppose to do walk to New York? For all I know the "other bus" is coming here straight out of my a**!" I felt like I was in a hostage situation, people were starting to panic, searching for ways to escape the clutches of the McDonalds Plaza! Whenever we saw anything that resembled a bus drive by, people began to yell and wave as though we were the cast of Gilligan's Island signaling a helicopter of lost hope.
Then all of sudden I felt totally calm. I accepted the fact that my anger wasn't going to resolve this situation any faster. That my rage wouldn't make a new, functioning bus magically appear. So I tried my best to breathe. To calm down and let go. To practice the art of patience. I did all those things, then I called the police.
I didn't know was else to do so I tattled. I was forwarded to a state trooper who said although he technically couldn't do anything legally to help, he would send an officer down to get things moving. Sure enough, moments later a cruiser pulled up (as noted in the photo I posted) and the officer (who I love) got the driver to call dispatch again with the officer present, and boom! 30 minutes later a bus arrives to take us to NYC.
Tomorrow I will call the bus company and the Better Business Bureau. To some this may seem like a small issue, but to me it's a big issue about justice. Companies need to be held accountable for bad service, and we should never be afraid to stand up for our rights as consumers.
And as I go to hit publish on this post, I am looking at my fellow passengers as Barry Manilow's "Looks Like We Made It" plays in my head. Ah, victory. I'm writing this blog post while I ride a bus from Boston to New York City. It's 12 am, pretty late for traveling, I know. But you see, I was suppose to be in New York City at 8 pm but the bus I was on broke down at a rest area about an hour outside of Boston and a new bus didn't come pick up the abandoned passengers for over 6 hours!
Yes, I know things could have been worse. The bus could have had an accident seriously hurting or killing me or the other passengers. Yes, I am grateful to be getting home in one piece. But yes, did I create a hell of a fuss when after 3 hours of waiting and no communication from our bus driver regarding the status of our situation. I lost it. I yelled. I complained. I pouted. I mean, 6 hours? The whole situation wad unprofessional, unnerving and unbelievable. How a large company can just disregard its customers and its employees ( I overheard the company dispatcher blow off the drivers calls numerous times) just disgusts me. I chose this bus company because they use cute double decker buses, clearly they are cute to try and mask how ugly the company is.
At about hour four I began to loose my mind. My boyfriend called and said "aw bummer, I really wanted to see you tonight" and I screamed "oh, okay what am I suppose to do walk to New York? For all I know the "other bus" is coming here straight out of my a**!" I felt like I was in a hostage situation, people were starting to panic, searching for ways to escape the clutches of the McDonalds Plaza! Whenever we saw anything that resembled a bus drive by, people began to yell and wave as though we were the cast of Gilligan's Island signaling a helicopter of lost hope.
Then all of sudden I felt totally calm. I accepted the fact that my anger wasn't going to resolve this situation any faster. That my rage wouldn't make a new, functioning bus magically appear. So I tried my best to breathe. To calm down and let go. To practice the art of patience. I did all those things, then I called the police.
I didn't know was else to do so I tattled. I was forwarded to a state trooper who said although he technically couldn't do anything legally to help, he would send an officer down to get things moving. Sure enough, moments later a cruiser pulled up (as noted in the photo I posted) and the officer (who I love) got the driver to call dispatch again with the officer present, and boom! 30 minutes later a bus arrives to take us to NYC.
Tomorrow I will call the bus company and the Better Business Bureau. To some this may seem like a small issue, but to me it's a big issue about justice. Companies need to be held accountable for bad service, and we should never be afraid to stand up for our rights as consumers.
And as I go to hit publish on this post, I am looking at my fellow passengers as Barry Manilow's "Looks Like We Made It" plays in my head. Ah, victory. 
Comments