Letter to the #8 Bus Driver 12/17/2007
  o the #8 Halsted bus driver who sings Christmas carols over the intercom:Thank you. I've only had the pleasure of riding on your bus once, but I believe it may be the highlight of my holiday season. Those of us who ride the #8 daily are probably the most frustrated CTA customers in the city. The 30-minute waits in the blustery Chicago wind, the 10 minutes we spend zooming and braking just to get through that satanic six-way intersection at Milwaukee and Grand. The windows that refuse to close, the odorous cranky guy who keeps asking the time. They're enough to make you actually consider giving up your Honda Civic's precious Lincoln Park parking space and paying for a spot near the office. (OK fine, my employer would pay for parking; I just find it difficult to read the newspaper while navigating around the biwheeled maniacs in the bike lane.) So I ride the #8, the “ugly bus” as my coworkers and I refer to it, to and fro, day after day. Sometimes I get a “Watch your step” from the driver. Every once in a while a “Have a nice day.” Usually, it's “Move to the back so that everyone (more people than should ever safely inhabit a moving vehicle) can get on the bus! Move (you Starbucks-swilling Lakeview assholes who make my working life even more of a living hell with every second you drone on into your Razr about Barry's wine party last night, oh, and you, too, smelly crack monger) to the back!” But then there's you, carol-singing bus driver who refers to yourself as “OBJ” – Original Bus Jockey. Even though I could clearly see the intersection of Hooker and Halsted out of the dirt-streaked window, you transported me to smooth-sounding, reindeer-trodden snowscapes on the “WBUS of the CTA.” Sure, you didn't know all of the words to “The Christmas Song.” Sure, your vibrato could use some work. No matter. There was unaffected joy in your voice. It wasn't false; it wasn't ironic; and it didn't give a snowman's turd what anyone else thought. Forget all of the P.C. nonsense surrounding Christmas – the “Happy Holidays” versus “Merry Christmases.” I, myself, have dubious feelings about the whole Christianity thing, and I certainly detest having Jesus, Mary, Joseph, and the rest of their ilk crammed down my throat. The point is, that Tuesday morning on the bus, thanks to you, my agnostic tendencies were immaterial. And I'll challenge any Scrooge to a cage match who gives you flak regarding your mobile vocal jubilance. You obviously think this time of year is something to celebrate. Even if your passengers don't want to celebrate the birth of Jesus, or even believe there was a Jesus, I hope with all sincerity that they appreciate your buoyance and humor. I was smiling all the way to Washington/Randolph, and so were a great deal of my fellow #8 passengers. (I will not even go into my thoughts on the iPod drones who populate half of all public transportation seats these days, who most likely couldn't even hear you, let alone the sounds of life in general passing them by as they listen to the same Fergie remix for the 48th time. Oh and so help me Lucifer if they did hear you and then turned up the headset volume – cage match.) For most #8 passengers, every weekday morning is the same – same wardrobe from which to choose, same nonfat latte, same tragic headlines, same traffic jams, same confining office walls bearing down on us when we do finally arrive at work. And always, same ugly bus. But you made a difference. You made my crowded seat a place to prize, rather than simply to pass an aggravating span of time. So thank you, OBJ. Merry Christmas to you, too. Sincerely, Corinne CommentsBetty Davis Fri, 28 Dec 2007 08:49:16 I, too, have had a similar experience during a morning commute to work. Although the driver of my bus played Christmas music from the ghetto blaster sitting in his lap. Over time, public transportation has a way of completely dulling your awareness of life around you. It's a coping mechanism. It's nice to have experiences like that every once in a while. Those that restore (even if only slightly) your faith in some versions of humanity. Betty Davis Fri, 28 Dec 2007 08:52:25 Oh, and I forgot to tell you how much I enjoyed reading your story. The bit about gays and their Razrs (and the crack mongers) made me chuckle. Leave a Reply |  Corinne BilyeuCorinne Bilyeu has been prolonging her adolescence for the last five(ish) years. She still has no idea what she wants to do with her life, but she figures she can cut down on watching her beloved Frasier reruns to write some jackass stories. Corinne was an honors English and journalism student at a state university (does it really matter which one?). After conquering Shakespeare, Blake, Pynchon, and the inverted pyramid, she shifted seamlessly into editing obituaries at a small-town newspaper. As fulfilling as that was, she left the high-stakes world of newspaper copy editing for the even higher-stakes world of editing for a litigation consulting firm (i.e., became a complete sellout). Corinne resides in Chicago, Illinois, and can generally be found loudly conversing with strangers at a local dive bar. ______________________ corinnebilyeu@ ______________________ ArchivesFebruary 2008 ______________________  |
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