the guy on the bus

when i was younger, i had to take bus to school all the time. it pretty much sucked. i hated waiting for the bus. i hated riding the bus. and i definitely hated missing the bus and having to run after it… which happened all to frequently. at the end of high school, i got a car and i never took the bus again. but now I’m living in the south bay and have no car, so the other day when i had to get back home from downtown san Jose, i hopped on the 81 line… a bus that i used to take all the time years ago.

now, some people think that taking the bus is hella ghetto and that the people who ride those things are total freaks. i don’t really think that way… yet somehow this bus ride took a turn towards the unexpected. the guy across the aisle from me kept kind of slumping over during the ride. he was around 25 years old, and i assumed he was probably just drunk or something when all of a sudden he starts muttering “I need an ambulance. bus driver… bus driver… I NEED AN AMBULANCE. i can’t see. i can’t seeeeeee”. wtf? i slowly look around me. either no one heard him, or people just don’t give a fuck. i look at the guy… he definitely looks messed up. so now what? do i call an ambulance? is this guy really hurt or is he just a crackhead? i don’t want to call out an ambulance for nothing, but at the same time, i can’t just ignore him.

luckily, eventually the bus driver hears him. i guess the bus driver must deal with stuff like this all the time, cause it doesn’t even phase him. he just angrily asks the guy why he needs an ambulance. the guy, who is having difficult speaking, stammers that he hurt his back a few days ago and that it hurts like crazy and all of a sudden he can’t see anything. he asks the bus driver where we are, and then has him stop at the next stop, where he gets up stumbles forward towards the bus door and then proceeds to crumple in a heap on the bus floor. shit.

the guy’s laying there on his back, muttering that he needs an ambulance over and over. at this point there’s not really another option. the bus driver (very reluctantly) agrees to call an ambulance. now, at this point you would think that people would feel sorry for this poor guy. nope. this guy sitting at the back of the bus starts totally yelling at him: “Hey! what the hell?! couldn’t you have fallen down *outside* the bus? now we all have to wait for your stupid ass! what the hell is your problem! man, I’m gonna throw your ass in a shopping cart and shove you down the street. how’d you hurt your back man… what, did you fall off your little skateboard or somethin’?? you’re probably takin’ drugs yo… that’s why you can’t see!” and so it goes on and on for twenty minutes straight. up until the minute that the ambulance hauled the hurt guy away, this dude in the back was yelling at him and making fun of him.

how messed up is that? the crazy thing is that he wasn’t the only one. other people on the bus were also grumbling about having to wait. what exactly is wrong with some people these days? are they really so wrapped up in their own lives and always in so much of a hurry that they can’t even have compassion for someone who is in pain if it inconveniences their commute? is this just such a common occurrence that people are immune to caring? maybe it’s just too routine. the paramedics that came to get him didnt seem all that concerned either and joked amongst themselves while they hauled the guy off. i can’t even imagine being in that guy’s situation… laying on the floor of the bus in pain, unable to see, and people are just straight up dissing you the whole time. crazy.

*v